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Duck test

Classification based on observable evidence / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The duck test is a form of abductive reasoning, usually expressed as "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."

Mallard2.jpg
A mallard, known a posteriori, both looking like a duck and swimming like a duck

The test implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject's habitual characteristics. It is sometimes used to counter abstruse arguments that something is not what it appears to be.