Analytical Reasoning

"What is Analytical Reasoning?" you may ask, and the answer is quite simple really.

Analytical Reasoning is, quite simply, the ability to; from a few tell tale signs or clues; come to a general conclusion about how these signs or clues came to be.

For example:

Let us say that you discover a series of muddy footprints in your bathroom. There are footprints leading OUT of your bathroom, but none leading INTO your bathroom. You are distrubed by this because you happen to live alone.

As such, you find yourself confused.

Using analytical reasoning you can deduce a few things.

1. There is likely, or has likely been, an intruder in your residence.

2. The intruder likely entered the house through the bathroom.

3. The height of the intruder.

4. The general shoe size of the intruder.

5. Where the intruder entered the bathroom.

6. What parts of the bathroom the intruder stopped to examine.

7. Which direction the intruder was headed when he or she left the bathroom.

8. What sort of shoes your intruder was wearing.


You may be asking how any of this could be possible, let alone useful in any way.

If there is a window in the bathroom, it is most likely safe to assume that your unexpected guest entered your residence from there.

Dividing the length of an individuals bare foot by 15% will give you an approximate height of your intruder. Shoe impressions, of course, add a tiny bit of length and so can generally be divided by 16% to make up for the added length.

For the sake of example let us say that the length of the intruders shoe print from heel to toe is approximately eight inches long.

  From this we can assume that the intruder is roughly 4 feet tall.

In a similar manner one might guess the intruders approximate shoe size.

A person with a general familiarity of the different types of shoe soles, may be able to deduce was sort of shoe the intruder was wearing.

 Say that the shoe prints greatly resemble the tread of a pair of work boots you were eying earlier in the week.

The intruder likely owns a similar pair.

 Thinner footprints could likely point to a female intruder, whereas wider footprints could point to a male intruder.

For now we shall gather that the footprints are rather wide.

Following the footprints from where they started can tell you where the intruder moved from the window.
Perhaps he or she walked to the vanity, where you find a few objects out of place, but none missing.

Perhaps then the footprints lead you to the bathroom storage space, which you can assume was opened, and should likely be dusted for fingerprints.

Perhaps from there, they lead out of the bathroom, and in the general direction of your bedroom.

If there are no footprints leading out of the bedroom, you can assume one of two things.

1. The intruder is in your bedroom.

or

2. The intruder left the house through your bedroom window.

Let's hope by now you've called the proper authorities.

If your intruder has left the house you can now tell the authorities the aproximate height of your intruder, and suggest a few good places to dust for finger prints.

(though police these days are hardly appreciative of the input of amateur detectives)

At the very least, your yourself now know a few things to be on the look out for.

A person, likely male, wearing work boots (or something similar) and roughly four feet tall. (who came in through the bathroom window, walked to you vanity and sifted through a few items, didn't find what he was after, moved to the closet and then out and into your bedroom.)

It isn't much to go on, but it is; at least; Something.

The devil's in the details, my friends.

There are many other things you could deduce about your intruder outside of the bathroom. A quick look at anything that has been moved or sifted through can give you a fairly good idea of what the intruder was after, which could likely give you a motive as well as a suspect or two.

A neighbor may have seen something suspicious as well.

The point is, the more information you can gather about your intruder, the easier it will be to find him.

Using analytical reasoning, as we did in the example above, could give you any number of important details about your intruder, and is an utterly invaluable tool of the trade.

Any information is better than no information at all.