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Mathematical induction can be informally illustrated by reference to the sequential effect of falling dominoes. [1] [2]Mathematical induction is a method for proving that a statement () is true for every natural number, that is, that the infinitely many cases (), (), (), (), … all hold.
The induction, bounding and least number principles are commonly used in reverse mathematics and second-order arithmetic. For example, I Σ 1 {\displaystyle {\mathsf {I}}\Sigma _{1}} is part of the definition of the subsystem R C A 0 {\displaystyle {\mathsf {RCA}}_{0}} of second-order arithmetic.
The concept of proof is formalized in the field of mathematical logic. [12] A formal proof is written in a formal language instead of natural language. A formal proof is a sequence of formulas in a formal language, starting with an assumption, and with each subsequent formula a logical consequence of the preceding ones. This definition makes ...
In first-order set theories, the common framework, the set induction principle is an axiom schema, granting an axiom for any predicate (i.e. class). In contrast, the axiom of regularity is a single axiom, formulated with a universal quantifier only over elements of the domain of discourse, i.e. over sets.
Structural induction is a proof method that is used in mathematical logic (e.g., in the proof of Łoś' theorem), computer science, graph theory, and some other mathematical fields. It is a generalization of mathematical induction over natural numbers and can be further generalized to arbitrary Noetherian induction .
Transfinite induction requires proving a base case (used for 0), a successor case (used for those ordinals which have a predecessor), and a limit case (used for ordinals which don't have a predecessor). Transfinite induction is an extension of mathematical induction to well-ordered sets, for example to sets of ordinal numbers or cardinal numbers.
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Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1831, and James Clerk Maxwell mathematically described it as Faraday's law of induction .