Description
The simplest and most common form of mathematical induction proves that a statement involving a natural number n holds for all values of n. The proof consists of two steps:
- The basis (base case): showing that the statement holds when n is equal to the lowest value that n is given in the question. Usually, n = 0 or n = 1.
- The inductive step: showing that if the statement holds for some n, then the statement also holds when n + 1 is substituted for n.
The assumption in the inductive step that the statement holds for some n is called the induction hypothesis (or inductive hypothesis). To perform the inductive step, one assumes the induction hypothesis and then uses this assumption to prove the statement for n + 1.
The choice between n = 0 and n = 1 in the base case is specific to the context of the proof: If 0 is considered a natural number, as is common in the fields of combinatorics and mathematical logic, then n = 0. If, on the other hand, 1 is taken as the first natural number, then the base case is given by n = 1.
This method works by first proving the statement is true for a starting value, and then proving that the process used to go from one value to the next is valid. If these are both proven, then any value can be obtained by performing the process repeatedly. It may be helpful to think of the domino effect; if one is presented with a long row of dominoes standing on end, one can be sure that:
- The first domino will fall
- Whenever a domino falls, its next neighbor will also fall,
so it is concluded that all of the dominoes will fall, and that this fact is inevitable.
Read more about this topic: Mathematical Induction
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“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)