Lesson 7

Methods of Proofs
Part 1
 MATHEMATICAL FACTS
 Before we continue, you must be familiar with a
few basic mathematical facts.

PREDICATE LOGIC
 The “Quantifiers”  and  are known as
predicate quantifiers.  means for all and 
means there exists.
Example 1: If we have one computer that all
students must share, we say:
one computer  students.
Example 2: If each student has a separate
computer, we would say:
students  one computer.
Note: The two example may both appear to be
saying that “there exists” only one computer;
however, example 2 is actually saying
mathematically that every student has a
‘unique’ computer.
ODD AND EVEN NUMBERS
 Any odd integer can be expressed as n  2 p  1
 Any even integer can be expressed as n  2 p

ABSOLUTE VALUE
 The absolute value of a number x, denoted | x |,
is x when x is positive or zero and is  x when x
is negative.

Example 3: Find |  4 | , and | 4 |

  
| 4 | ( 4)  4 and | 4 | 4
DIVISIBILITY
 If a divides b, we write a | b

Example 4: 3 | 18 is true because 18  3  6

TYPES OF NUMBERS
 Prime numbers: Prime numbers are numbers
that are divisible by 1 and the
number itself, i.e. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11,
13, 17, 19, 23, . . .
 Integers: Any of the numbers
. . .,  4,  3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, . . .
 Natural numbers: The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, . . .
 Whole numbers: The numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, . . .

 Rational numbers: A number that can be

expressed as an integer or
as a quotient of integers.

 Irrational numbers: A number not expressible

as an integer or quotient of
integers.

 Real numbers: Any rational or irrational

number.
RECURRENCE RELATION
 A recurrence relation is an equation that
defines the ith value in a sequence of numbers in
terms of the preceding i  1 values.
Example 5: 0!  1 and n!  (n  1)! n is a recurrence
relation, i.e. the factorial relation.
Exercise 1: Find the first six terms of the sequence
satisfying the recurrence relation:
x1  2 x2  1 xn 2  3xn  2 xn1
LOGIC
The inverse of p  q is ~ p  ~ q
The converse of p  q is q  p
The contrapositive of p  q is ~ q  ~ p

Note: p  q  ~ q  ~ p
Exercise 5: State the inverse, the converse, and the
2
contrapositive of: If x is odd, then x is
odd.
2
inverse: If x is even, then x is even.
converse: If x 2 is odd, then x is odd.
2
contrapositive: If x is even, then x is even.
Exercise 6: State the inverse, the converse, and the
contrapositive of: He’s 60, if he’s a
day.
inverse: He’s not 60, if he’s not a day.
converse: If he’s a day, he’s 60.
contrapositive: If he’s not a day, he’s not 60