Math Is Fun Forum

PatternMan

Member

Registered: 2014-03-08

Posts: 199

Is there any way I can check my proofs?

I don't want to trouble you guys since I'm doing elementary topics which are probably second nature to you. But I want to know if there are any resources online I can use to check my proofs. I am pedantic and want to make sure I get the basics right so that I'm comfortable when I move on to more complex material that builds on the foundations. Rocky foundations are never good.

Like I will do things like this...

To prove if n is even, then (-1)^n = 1
2m = n
(-1)^2m
(-1)(-1)^m
1^m = 1

I don't know if it's acceptable. Also I'm trying to prove virtually ever rule I know as I go along and I don't have a proof that 1^m = 1 for all cases even though it does.

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"School conditions you to reject your own judgement and experiences. The facts are in the textbook. Memorize and follow the rules. What they don't tell you is the people that discovered the facts and wrote the textbooks are people like you and me."

anonimnystefy

Real Member

From: Harlan's World

Registered: 2011-05-23

Posts: 16,049

Re: Is there any way I can check my proofs?

I'm sure that if you post the proofs here someone will be able to respond.

The one you posted looks good (assuming I got what you meant to write; some parentheses are missing), but it generally depends what you assume you already know is true, like you said.

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“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

ShivamS

Member

Registered: 2011-02-07

Posts: 3,648

Re: Is there any way I can check my proofs?

Or google "proof of theorem [enter name here]". A lot of the times you can find the proof there.

Agnishom

Real Member

From: Riemann Sphere

Registered: 2011-01-29

Posts: 24,996

Website

Re: Is there any way I can check my proofs?

I don't want to trouble you guys since I'm doing elementary topics which are probably second nature to you. But I want to know if there are any resources online I can use to check my proofs. I am pedantic and want to make sure I get the basics right so that I'm comfortable when I move on to more complex material that builds on the foundations. Rocky foundations are never good.

Like I will do things like this...

To prove if n is even, then (-1)^n = 1
2m = n
(-1)^2m
(-1)(-1)^m
1^m = 1

I don't know if it's acceptable. Also I'm trying to prove virtually ever rule I know as I go along and I don't have a proof that 1^m = 1 for all cases even though it does.

That is okay. You can also use induction

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'And fun? If maths is fun, then getting a tooth extraction is fun. A viral infection is fun. Rabies shots are fun.'
'God exists because Mathematics is consistent, and the devil exists because we cannot prove it'
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.