Tag Archives: induction

PIE: proof by algebra

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Brent

In my previous post I stated a very formal, general form of the Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion, or PIE.1 In this post I am going to outline one proof of PIE. I’m not going to give a completely formal proof, because … Continue reading →

Posted in combinatorics, induction, pattern, proof | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MaBloWriMo 7: s via omega

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Brent

Yesterday, I challenged you to prove that where , , and the are defined by and . The proof is by induction on . The base case is just arithmetic: Now suppose that we already know the statement holds for … Continue reading →

Posted in algebra, arithmetic, iteration, modular arithmetic, number theory | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

More hyperbinary fun

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Brent

When I originally posed Challenge #12, a certain Dave posted a series of comments with some explorations and partial solutions to part II (the hyperbinary sequence). Although I gave the “solution” in my last post, no solution to any problem … Continue reading →

Posted in challenges, induction, pattern, proof, recursion, sequences, solutions | Tagged , | 12 Comments