inferred

Inferred is the past participle of infer. In everyday use, something that is inferred is a conclusion drawn from evidence or reasoning rather than direct observation. Inferring is the mental act of connecting given facts to a derived conclusion.

In logic and philosophy, inference is the process of deriving new statements from existing ones using rules of reasoning. An inferred conclusion follows from premises; for example, if all humans are mortal and Socrates is human, one may infer that Socrates is mortal. Inference can be deductive, where the conclusion follows with necessity from the premises, or inductive, where the conclusion is probable based on evidence.

In statistics and data analysis, hypotheses about a population are inferred from sample data. Inference here may yield point estimates, intervals, or probabilistic statements about parameters, with associated uncertainty. Bayesian and frequentist approaches differ in interpreting the probability of hypotheses and parameters.

In writing and communication, inferred information is often contrasted with implied information; what the author suggests is implied, and what is concluded by the reader is inferred.

Etymology: from Latin inferre "to bring in, deduce"; the noun inference and the verb infer are related.