Notation

^ And _ Or : Not 8 For all or every" 9 There exists or some" ! If Then or implies"
:::

How To Read and Do Mathematical Proofs

James A. Foster Laboratory for Uphill Computing Dept. of Computer Science University of Idaho September 26, 1996

$ If and only if
Laboratory for Uphill Computing
September 26, 1996 jaf

Overview
High level strategy Indicators for speci c strategies Speci c strategies Some good books

Your Task High Level

Show that conclusion a necessary consequence of premises and what you know
C P K

1. Review de nitions Study 2. How would you know der

C

was true? Pon-

3. Is the theorem true? Play 4. Analyze and Work

P C

5. Apply proof techniques Work hard 6. Re-write for legibility and clarity Communicate
Laboratory for Uphill Computing
September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Speci c Strategies
Technique

Forward-Backward Construction Choose Induction Contrapositive Contradiction Cases Compound Inspiration

Indicator

Any time There is For all, each, any For all, each, any Not, no in Not, no, any time Or And, both anytime
C

Forward-Backward Example
n Thm: n = n,r r Proof: By de nition,

! = ! , ! But = ,  , . So ! ! ! , ! =
,  , ! , !  = ,
 where the last step is by de nition. So, n = r
 n . n,r

n
r r n r n r r n n n n r r n r n n n r n n r

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Forward-Backward
Indicator Any time Strategy Work simultaneously from premise
and conclusion


n r

Construction
Indicator There is" Strategy Build a witness and use it Thm: The integers are denumerable.

Thm:

= n,r
n

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Construction Example

Choose Example

Thm: The integers are denumerable.

1   = 2j ,+ 2 if 0 2 j otherwise clearly maps the integers to the natural numbers, since every integer is either greater than 0 or is not. is 1 : 1, since 6= !   6=  . Finally, is onto, since every natural number is either even or odd. Therefore, is the desired enumeration of the integers, showing that the integers are denumerable.
E x x x x E E x y E x E y E E

Thm: The sum of any two odd integers is

even

integers. Let

Proof: We will produce an enumeration of the



Proof: Let and be two arbitrary odd inx y x a y c b a b a b

tegers. Then, by de nition, = 2 + 1 and = 2 + 1 for two integers and . Now, let = + + 1. Then + = 2 +2 +2 = 2 So, by de nition, + is even.
x y a c b x y

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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Choose
Indicator For all, each, any" Strategy Choose and use an
even
arbitrary

Induction
Indicator For all, each, any" in a countable
domain witness

Thm: The sum of any two odd integers is

Strategy Find base case, show how to express large instance in terms of smaller instances, show that if it holds for the small instance then it holds for the next larger one.
i

+1 Thm: Prove that Pn=1 = nn2 i

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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Induction example
Thm: Prove that i= Proof: For the base case, assume n = 1. Then
i=1 nn+1 2

Pn

1 X
i=1

i=1=

So the base case holds. Now, show that if the theorem holds for n = k then it holds for n = k + 1. + k + 1 i=1 i=1 + = kk 2 1 + k + 1 = k + 1k + 2 2 The rst step is by de nition of summation, the second by inductive assumption, and the third by algebraic manipulation. This completes the induction.
i
k+1

2 11 + 1 2= 2

Contrapositive Example Thm: For real number , , if p 6= p+q then 2 6=

p q pq p q

k X

= p = = 2 2 = + 2 + = 2 So p = p+q . Therefore, the theorem must 2 hold by contrapositive.

Proof: Assume = . Then

p
p q pq p p

pp

pq

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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Contrapositive
Indicator Not, no in "
C

Contradiction
Indicator Not, no, any time" or desperation
P

Strategy Assume not ", prove not "

C

Strategy Assume not ", derive contradiction using and

P C K

Thm: For real number , , if p 6= p+q then 2

p

6=

pq

Thm: p2 is irrational.

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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Cases
Thm: p2 is irrational. Lemma: If
Contradiction Example

Indicator Or"or any time Strategy Divide and conquer Thm: There are irrational and such that
c b

We will need the following lemma:

x

2 is even, then so is x.

Proof: Let x2 = 2a. Then x2 = x
x = 2a. So 2 must divide one of the multiplicands in x2.
So must be even.
x

is rational.

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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Proofpof theorem: Suppose p2 is rational. p

p q

Contradiction Example cont'd

Then 2 = q for some integers and which p 2 have no common factors. Then 22 = 2 = p2 , q so 2 2= 2 So, 2 is even, which by the lemma implies that is even. In other words, = 2 for some integer .
q p p p p a a

Thm: There are irrational b and c such that b is rational.

c

Cases Example
p

Proof: Consider the number p2 .

2
p p

This implies that 2 = 2qa22 = 4qa22 , which implies that 2 2 = 4 2 and that 2 = 2 2. So, 2 is even, which by the lemma implies that is even.
q a q a q q

This means that both and are even, and so they have the common factor 2. This contradicts our assumption and proves the theorem.
q p

p p Case 1: if 2 2 is rational, then let b = c = 2. p p Case 2: p Suppose 2 2 is irrational. Then let b = 2 2 and c = 2. Now p 2 bc =  2  2 p  2 2 = p2 = 22 = 2 So that bc is rational. These are the only two cases, so the theorem is true.
p p p p p

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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Compound proofs
Indicator And, both" Strategy Prove each part separately Thm: There is exactly one even prime.

Inspiration
Indicator Any time Strategy Change the Problem

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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Good Books
Compound Example Some excellent books on doing proofs:
Polya, G. How to Solve It, 2nd ed., Princeton, 1957. Solow, D. How to Read and Do Proofs, Wiley, 1990. Wickelgren, W. How to Solve Problems, Freeman, 1974. Polya, G. Patterns of Plausible Inference, 2nd ed., Princeton, 1968. Polya, G. Induction and Analogy in Mathematics, Princeton, 1973. Lakatos, I. Proofs and Refutations, Cambridge, 1976.

Thm: There is exactly one even prime. Proof: 2 is an even prime, so there is at least
one.
p

If and were both even primes, then both would have 2 as a divisor. But the only divisors of a prime are 1 and itself. So, both and must equal 2. So there are no other even primes than 2.
q p q

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

Laboratory for Uphill Computing

September 26, 1996 jaf

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