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The above argument works because the exact same reasoning could be applied if the alternative assumption, namely, that the first object is blue, were made, or, similarly, that the words 'red' and 'blue' can be freely exchanged in the wording of the proof. As a result, the use of "without loss of generality" is valid in this case.
The expression "mathematical proof" is used by lay people to refer to using mathematical methods or arguing with mathematical objects, such as numbers, to demonstrate something about everyday life, or when data used in an argument is numerical. It is sometimes also used to mean a "statistical proof" (below), especially when used to argue from data.
Fermat's little theorem and some proofs; Gödel's completeness theorem and its original proof; Mathematical induction and a proof; Proof that 0.999... equals 1; Proof that 22/7 exceeds π; Proof that e is irrational; Proof that π is irrational; Proof that the sum of the reciprocals of the primes diverges
Trivial may also refer to any easy case of a proof, which for the sake of completeness cannot be ignored. For instance, proofs by mathematical induction have two parts: the "base case" which shows that the theorem is true for a particular initial value (such as n = 0 or n = 1), and the inductive step which shows that if the theorem is true for a certain value of n, then it is also true for the ...
Basic arithmetic properties (zoom in for induction proofs) This article contains mathematical proofs for some properties of addition of the natural numbers: the additive identity, commutativity, and associativity. These proofs are used in the article Addition of natural numbers.
Pages which contain only proofs (of claims made in other articles) should be placed in the subcategory Category:Article proofs. Pages which contain theorems and their proofs should be placed in the subcategory Category:Articles containing proofs. Articles related to automatic theorem proving should be placed in Category:Automated theorem proving.
Proofs from THE BOOK is a book of mathematical proofs by Martin Aigner and Günter M. Ziegler. The book is dedicated to the mathematician Paul Erdős, who often referred to "The Book" in which God keeps the most elegant proof of each mathematical theorem. During a lecture in 1985, Erdős said, "You don't have to believe in God, but you should ...
The onset of this phase typically occurs during a 'transition to higher mathematics' course, an 'introduction to proofs' course or an introductory course in mathematical analysis or abstract algebra. Students of computer science or applied mathematics may encounter this formalism during their underclassman undergraduate years via a course in ...