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0 Find all natural numbers n such that n^2 < 2^n

proof-writing
induction

Using induction proof, find all the natural numbers n such that n2 < 2
n
.

I know that n does not work for 2, 3 , and 4 but it does work for 0 and 1 as well as any number greater than
or equal to 5, I am just not sure how to show this in a proof.

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Anon123
asked
1●1 ●2 Sep 29 '14 at 0:50

Mark Fantini
edited
5,427 ● 4 ● 22 ● 40 Sep 29 '14 at 0:54

Induction says that your statement holds for all n greater than or equal to some N . Can N be less than 5 based on your
observations?
– Cameron Williams
Sep 29 '14 at 0:55

Yes if it is 0 or 1 but not if it is 2, 3 or 4

–  Anon123
Sep 29 '14 at 1:00

If N = 0 or 1 , what mathematical induction would say is that for all n ≥ N , your statement (n2 < 2
n
) is true. Is this
the case?
– Cameron Williams
Sep 29 '14 at 1:07

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1 Answer order by
votes

Hint
2
You're on the right track. You can show by exhaustion that n = 0 and n = 1 are solutions, but
n ∈ {2, 3, 4} are not.

Next we test our base case n = 5 and it is a solution.

Suppose for some n = i , it is the case that n2 < 2

n
. Hence i2 i
< 2 . We will show that
(i + 1)
2
< 2
i+1
, which would complete the proof.

Note:
 2 2
(i + 1) = i + 2i + 1

2 i
(i + 1) < 2 + 2i + 1

2 i+1 i
(i + 1) < 2 − (2 − 2i + 1)

So it remains to show that 2i ≥ 2i + 1 so long as i ≥ 5 . This can also be proven with induction.
Try doing it as an exercise.

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Fengyang Wang
answered
1,644 ● 1 ● 13 ● 22 Sep 29 '14 at 1:15

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