Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T20:27:49.357Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Inductio ad absurdum?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2016

D. A. Woodall
D. A. Woodall*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Suppose that Pn is some proposition about the integer n, which we want to prove for all n≥n0 (usually n0 = 0 or 1). The form of inductive argument most commonly taught in schools is the following:

A. Simple induction. If Pn0 is true, and Pn ⇒ Pn+i for each n > n0, then P" is true for all n > n0

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 59 , Issue 408 , June 1975 , pp. 64 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Mathematical Association 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Dirac, G. A., Some theorems on abstract graphs, Proc. London Math. Soc. (3) 2, 69–81 (1952).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Newman, D. J., A problem in graph theory, Amer. Math. Monthly 65, 611 (1958).Google Scholar
3. Pym, J. S., A proof of Menger’s theorem, Monatshefte für Mathematik 73, 81–83 (1969).Google Scholar
4. Pym, J. S., A proof of the linkage theorem, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 27, 636–638 (1969).Google Scholar
5. Youse, B. K., Mathematical induction. Prentice-Hall (1964).Google Scholar