Friday 30 March 2018

Which step is wrong in this proof




Proof: Consider the quadratic equation $x^2+x+1=0$. Then, we can see that $x^2=−x−1$. Assuming that $x$ is not zero (which it clearly isn't, from the equation) we can divide by $x$ to give
$$x=−1−\frac{1}{x}$$
Substitute this back into the $x$ term in the middle of the original equation, so
$$x^2+(−1−\frac{1}{x})+1=0$$
This reduces to
$$x^2=\frac{1}{x}$$

So, $x^3=1$, so $x=1$ is the solution. Substituting back into the equation for $x$ gives
$1^2+1+1=0$

Therefore, $3=0$.




What happened?


Answer



Up to $x^3=1$ everything is fine. This allows you to conclude that $x\in \{z\in \Bbb C\colon z^3=1\}$. Since $\{z\in \Bbb C\colon z^3=1\}=\left\{\dfrac{-1 + i\sqrt 3}{2}, \dfrac{-1 - i\sqrt 3}{2},1\right\}$, then $x$ is one of the elements of this set.



You made a reasoning consisting of logical consequences, not one of logical equivalences. That's why you can tell that $x\in \{z\in \Bbb C\colon z^3=1\}$, but you can't say which one is it.




See this for a similar issue.



An even more simpler version of your mistake is this: suppose $x^2=1$, then $x=1$.
You can convince yourself that this is wrong and that you did the same thing in your question.


No comments:

Post a Comment

real analysis - How to find $lim_{hrightarrow 0}frac{sin(ha)}{h}$

How to find $\lim_{h\rightarrow 0}\frac{\sin(ha)}{h}$ without lhopital rule? I know when I use lhopital I easy get $$ \lim_{h\rightarrow 0}...