Thursday, 12 November 2015

elementary number theory - Induction with extra variable and conditional proposition



Could someone take a look at the following proposition I'm trying to prove? Note: I'm required to use induction, strong induction, or proof by smallest counter example. My approach was to use regular induction.



My proof is not complete but could someone see what I have so far and tell me if I'm on the right track? This may be way off base since up until now I've only been working proof by induction problems that start with something along the lines of "For every integer n..." or "If nN..." etc.



Proposition Suppose aZ. Prove that 52na implies 5a for any nN.



Proof. We will prove this using mathematical induction.




Base Case. Let n=1. Then 52(1)a which simplifies to 52a. This means 2a=5b where bZ. Since the LHS of our equation is even, we know b must be even as well. So b=2c for some cZ. Thus 2a=5(2c)=2(5c). Dividing this equation by 2 gives a=5c. Therfore 5a.



Inductive Step. Let the natural number n=k1. We need to show that if 52ka implies 5a then 52k+1a implies 5a. We will use direct proof.



This is far as I've gotten.



[ADDED]



So then the Inductive Step would unfold as:




Inductive Step. Let the natural number n=k1. We need to show that if 52ka implies 5a then 52k+1a implies 5a. We will use direct proof.



Let us assume the statement 52ka implies 5a is true. Now suppose 52k+1a. Observe that 2k+1a=22ka=2a where a=2ka. Since we know 52a then it must be the case that 5a since 2 is even. By our inductive hypothesis if 5a and a=2ka then it follows that 5a.



But if 52ka implies 5a, which in turn implies that 52k+1a implies 5a, we know that if 52na then 5a for aZ and any nN.


Answer



What you did so far is very good. Now suppose that holds for k and suppose that 52k+1a. Note that 2k+1a=2×2ka=2a where a=2ka. You know that your proposition holds for 1 and k...


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