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Review of Proof Methods

1. There are several common proof methods including direct proof, proof by contradiction, proof of an implication, and proof by cases. 2. To prove a statement is true for all elements of a set, one must show it is true for an arbitrary element and cannot restrict the element in any way. 3. Mathematical induction and proof by descent are techniques used to prove statements about natural numbers are true for all natural numbers.

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Nishant Panigrahi
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103 views

Review of Proof Methods

1. There are several common proof methods including direct proof, proof by contradiction, proof of an implication, and proof by cases. 2. To prove a statement is true for all elements of a set, one must show it is true for an arbitrary element and cannot restrict the element in any way. 3. Mathematical induction and proof by descent are techniques used to prove statements about natural numbers are true for all natural numbers.

Uploaded by

Nishant Panigrahi
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Review of proof methods

1. Direct proof of P implies Q You start with the statement P, through steps which you can explain or justify with propositions/theorems, you arrive at the statement Q. Your proof should like this: Assume P. Fill in the details here justifying every step Then Q. Therefore, P implies Q. One example is when you are proving A _ B. The statement is x 2 A =) x 2 B So your proof should like this: Assume x 2 A. Fill in the details here justifying every step Then x 2 B. Therefore, A _ B. Another example is the proving that a function f : A ! B is injective. The statement is f(x) = f(y) =) x = y So your proof should like this: Assume f(x) = f(y). Fill in the details here justifying every step Then x = y. Therefore f is injective. 2. Proof of P implies Q by counterpositive Instead of proving P implies Q you prove :Q implies :P. 3. Proof of a statement P If you are not given a starting point (the statement P is not an implication), you should _nd the starting point yourself! You start with a statement which you can justify to be true. Example: To prove that x2 + 2x _ 1 for any x _nd a starting point and _nish the proof below. a true statement because your reason/reference to why it is true Therefore x2 + 2x _ 1 for any x. 4. Proof by contradiction To prove a statement P, you assume P is false (or :P is true) and arrive at a contradiction. A contradiction is a statement that is false. It might be something like 2 < 2. It might be a statement of the form Q ^ :Q. The proof of "The number p 2 is not rational." from lecture looks like 1 Assume p 2 is a rational number. Then, p 2 can be written as p q where p and q are integers which do not have a common factor. Then... See lecture notes for the steps in between. So p and q are both even contradicting the fact that they did not have a common factor so our assumption that p 2 is a rational number was wrong. Therefore, p 2 is not rational. 5. Proof of a 8 statement To prove 8x P(x) you start with an arbitrary x and show that the statement P(x) is true. You cannot restrict your x or impose conditions on it at any point in your proof.

6. Proof of a 9 statement To prove 9x P(x) you _nd one x with the property P(x). You do not have to explain how you came up with your x. You do need to show that it has the property P(x). 7. Proof for a compound/messy statement If you have a statement with more than one quanti_er, for example the continuity statement: 8_ > 0 9_ > 0 (jx aj < _ =) jf(x) f(a)j < _) you break it apart. This is _rst of all a 8_ P(_) statement with P(_) being 9_ > 0 (jx aj < _ =) jf(x) f(a)j < _) : You say "Let _ > 0" and then when you are trying to prove P(_), you realize it is a 9_ Q(_) statement. So you try to _nd one _ that works. Once you are able to _nd the _, you have an R =) S statement jx aj < _ =) jf(x) f(a)j < _: to prove. So you start with jx aj < _ and try to get jf(x) f(a)j < _. Another example is proving surjectivity for a function f : A ! B. The surjectivity de_nition is: 8y 2 B 9x 2 A f(x) = y: So your proof should look like this: Let y 2 B be an arbitrary element. Let x = Find the x whose image will be y. You do not have to say how you found it. Then f(x) = :: Show steps, explain ::: = y. Therefore, f is surjective. 8. Disproving a statement To disprove a statement P, you prove its negation :P. Here is one very simple example. The stament is false so we will disprove. All real numbers are positive. 8x 2 R x > 0 Same statement with a quanti_er and math notation 9x 2 R x _ 0 Its negation, which is what we'll prove. 0 is a real number and 0 _ 0. So 0 is a real number which is not positive. Therefore, the statement that all real numbers are positive is false. 2 9. Mathematical induction To show P(n) is true for all n 2 N you show (a) P(1) is true. (b) For any k 2 N if P(k) is true then P(k + 1) is true. 10. Proof using Descent To show P(n) is true for all n 2 N you do a proof by contradiction of the statement A = fn : P(n) is falseg = ; You assume it is not empty. Then, A is a subset of N so it has a least element. You get your contradiction by _nding a smaller element in A. We uses this for another proof of the fact tha p 2 is irrational. We also use it to show a number n has a unique representation in base q. 11. Combinatorial proof This is in Chapter 5. This involves counting. When you want to prove an equality of expressions, you try to count the same thing in two di_erent ways corresponding to the two sides of the equality. Since you are counting the same thing, you conclude the two expressions are equal.

Exercises
1. Prove that if x2 3x4 < 0 then 1 < x < 4. Fill in the intermediate steps in the proof below. Make sure you justify every step even it is just to say algebra or calculation. Assume x2 3x 4 < 0 Fill in the details here. So, 1 < x < 4. Therefore, x2 3x 4 < 0 implies 1 < x < 4. 2. Prove that 9x 2 Z such that 2x2 3x + 1 = 0. 3. Prove that f : R ! R given by f(x) = x3 + 1 is injective. 4. Prove that f : R ! R given by f(x) = x3 + 1 is surjective.

5. Show that f : R ! R given by f(x) = x2 + 1 is not injective. Hint: You have to prove that there exists x1 6= x2 with f(x1) = f(x2). 6. Prove that f : R ! R given by f(x) = x2 + 1 is not surjective. Hint: You have to prove that there exists y 2 R such that y 6= f(x) for any x. 3

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