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In logic, proof by contradiction is a form of proof that establishes the truth or the validity of a proposition by showing that assuming the proposition to be false leads to a contradiction. Although it is quite freely used in mathematical proofs, not every school of mathematical thought accepts this kind of nonconstructive proof as universally ...
In traditional logic, a contradiction occurs when a proposition conflicts either with itself or established fact. It is often used as a tool to detect disingenuous beliefs and bias . Illustrating a general tendency in applied logic, Aristotle 's law of noncontradiction states that "It is impossible that the same thing can at the same time both ...
false (contradiction) bottom, falsity, contradiction, falsum, empty clause propositional logic, Boolean algebra, first-order logic: denotes a proposition that is always false. The symbol ⊥ may also refer to perpendicular lines.
Substitution into the original equation yields 2b 2 = (2c) 2 = 4c 2. Dividing both sides by 2 yields b 2 = 2c 2. But then, by the same argument as before, 2 divides b 2, so b must be even. However, if a and b are both even, they have 2 as a common factor.
In mathematics, a proof by infinite descent, also known as Fermat's method of descent, is a particular kind of proof by contradiction [1] used to show that a statement cannot possibly hold for any number, by showing that if the statement were to hold for a number, then the same would be true for a smaller number, leading to an infinite descent and ultimately a contradiction. [2]
This resolution technique uses proof by contradiction and is based on the fact that any sentence in propositional logic can be transformed into an equivalent sentence in conjunctive normal form. [4] The steps are as follows. All sentences in the knowledge base and the negation of the sentence to be proved (the conjecture) are conjunctively ...
The law of non-contradiction (alternately the 'law of contradiction' [20]): 'Nothing can both be and not be.' [19] The law of excluded middle: 'Everything must either be or not be.' [19] In accordance with the law of excluded middle or excluded third, for every proposition, either its positive or negative form is true: A∨¬A.
Further, since set theory was seen as the basis for an axiomatic development of all other branches of mathematics, Russell's paradox threatened the foundations of mathematics as a whole. This motivated a great deal of research around the turn of the 20th century to develop a consistent (contradiction-free) set theory.
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