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which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?
http://www.lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7837
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Author:  marvin [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:12 pm ]
Post subject:  which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

Which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?
Mine:
Newton–Leibniz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamenta ... f_calculus
Idea of linkind definite and indefinite integral

or (Lagrange's) Mean Value Theorem:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... heorem.svg
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Calculus/S ... t_Theorems
We use it all the time:P

Author:  Solomon [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

Favorite theorem: P(A|B) = P(B|A)P(A)/P(B)

Author:  speedchase [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

I don't know if it is technically a theorem, but I love l'hopitals rule.

if lim x-> a (f(x)) is zero or infinity, and if lim x->a (g(x)) is zero or infinity

lim x->a (f(x)/g(x)) = lim x ->a (f'(x)/g'(x))

edit: Just to be clear, there are some other conditions, but what I wrote above is the jist of it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhopitals_rule

Author:  TheBigH [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 4:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

I've always like Euclid's proof of the infinitude of primes, and Cantor's diagonal argument that there are more real numbers than there are integers.

But my favourite would have to be:
Code:
 πix
e     =  cos(x) + i sin(x)

Author:  EdLee [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 4:39 pm ]
Post subject: 

In college, we encountered this particular wording by our professor
and it has remained my classmates' and my all-time favorite:

Picard's theorem --
In any neighborhood of an essential singularity,
a function takes on every possible value,
except perhaps one, an infinite number of times.


(my emphasis in red)

Author:  GoRo [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

Ptolemy's theorem:

Select any four points on a circle.
Call one of them A, the next one B, and following this
direction call the next one C and the last one D.

Measure the sides of that quadrilateral
a = AB
b = BC
c = CD
d = DA

and measure the two diagonals
e = AC
f = BD

Magically it turns out that a*c + b*d = e*f

Cheers,
Rainer

Author:  drmwc [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 11:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

I like this proof, beacuse it uses a nuclear weapon to crack a nut:

Theorem
2^(1/n) is irrational for n>=3.

Proof
Suppose otherwise. Then there exists integers n (which is 3 or greater), p and q such that:
(2^(1/n))^n=(p/q)^n

Hence q^n+q^n=p^n.

However, this contradicts Fermat's Last Theorem.
QED

A separate argument is needed for n=2 - Fermat's Last Theorem is not strong enough!

(Unfortunately, the proof above actually turns out to be a circular argument if one follows the details through, and so it's not actually valid.)

Author:  GoRo [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

drmwc wrote:
(1)... I like this proof
(2)... Fermat's Last Theorem is not strong enough!
(3)... circular argument ... not actually valid.


@(1): me too, thanks for sharing!

@(2): that's a fancy way to put it, but "not actually valid"

@(3): I can't detect a circulus vitiosus here.
Let me repeat - slowly and for the sake of simplicity for n=3.

Proposition: There are no natural numbers p and q
such that (p/q)^3 = 2.

Proof: Assuming the opposite we would have natural numbers
p and q such that (p/q)^3 = 2.
Then p^3 / q^3 = 2,
i.e. p^3 = 2 * q^3 = q^3 + q^3.
Let a = q, b = q, c = p.
Then a^3 + b^3 = c^3 for some natural numbers a, b and c.
That contradicts Fermat.
Thus the assumption led to a contradiction.
q.e.d.

Cheers,
Rainer

Author:  Bill Spight [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 1:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

I like the proof that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal.

The triangle is congruent to its own reflection. QED. :)

Author:  drmwc [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 1:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

Rainer

The circularity is non-trivial.

Assume we use Wiles' proof of FLT - as far as I know, it's the only known proof.

The proof shows equivalance of integer a^n+b^n=c^n with n>=3 to a "Frey curve" of the form y^2=x(x-a^n)(x+b^n). At this step of the proof, certain restrictions are placed on (a,b,c) such as them being pairwise coprime. Consider the equation we had p^n=q^n+q^n. The pairwise co-prime restiction applied to (p,q,q)is equivalent to a straightforward Euler proof that 2^(1/n) is irrational.

Author:  GoRo [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 1:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

drmwc wrote:
The circularity is non-trivial.

Seems so :-)
But the circularity is not only non-trivial, but non-existent, too.

Pardon me: I don't have to go into the details of the proof
of any theorem I use for my proof. If the proposition, I am going
to prove, is already a trivial subcase of the theorem, then so
what? That is no problem and there is no circulus vitiosus.

If you want to convince me of having used a circular argument
you should point to a certain line in my proof and say:
"Ha, here you are - that is something you use as if already
proved!"

For your convenience and easier pointing-out here are the
lines of my proof, numbered:

1. Assume natural numbers p and q such that (p/q)^3 = 2.
2. Then p^3 / q^3 = 2,
3. i.e. p^3 = 2 * q^3 = q^3 + q^3.
4. Let a = q, b = q, c = p.
5. Then a^3 + b^3 = c^3 for some natural numbers a, b and c.
6. That contradicts Fermat.
7. Thus the assumption led to a contradiction.
8. q.e.d.

The first error is in line ....?

Cheers,
Rainer

Author:  Fedya [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

TheBigH wrote:
I've always like Euclid's proof of the infinitude of primes, and Cantor's diagonal argument that there are more real numbers than there are integers.

But my favourite would have to be:
Code:
 πix
e     =  cos(x) + i sin(x)


http://xkcd.com/179/

Author:  jts [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

GoRo wrote:
drmwc wrote:
The circularity is non-trivial.

Seems so :-)
But the circularity is not only non-trivial, but non-existent, too.

Pardon me: I don't have to go into the details of the proof
of any theorem I use for my proof. If the proposition, I am going
to prove, is already a trivial subcase of the theorem, then so
what? That is no problem and there is no circulus vitiosus.

If you want to convince me of having used a circular argument
you should point to a certain line in my proof and say:
"Ha, here you are - that is something you use as if already
proved!"

For your convenience and easier pointing-out here are the
lines of my proof, numbered:

1. Assume natural numbers p and q such that (p/q)^3 = 2.
2. Then p^3 / q^3 = 2,
3. i.e. p^3 = 2 * q^3 = q^3 + q^3.
4. Let a = q, b = q, c = p.
5. Then a^3 + b^3 = c^3 for some natural numbers a, b and c.
6. That contradicts Fermat.
7. Thus the assumption led to a contradiction.
8. q.e.d.

The first error is in line ....?

Cheers,
Rainer

6. (Or are you being pedantic about the fact that no step in the proof assumes Fermat, so 6 -> 7 is non sequitur?)

Author:  perceval [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 1:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

a similar thread on this forum: http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4885h
Cantors proof is also mentionned

Author:  shapenaji [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

I always liked the integral of a gaussian over the reals.

Integral(e^(-x^2)) from -Inf to Inf

1) Square the integral,
2) Then change from cartesian to polar,
3) Solve integral
4) Take the square root
5) Square again
6) Multiply by 2 EDIT: BAD, ignore my silly half-infinites
7) Have dessert

Author:  perceval [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

shapenaji wrote:
I always liked the integral of a gaussian over the reals.

Integral(e^(-x^2)) from -Inf to Inf

1) Square the integral,
2) Then change from cartesian to polar,
3) Solve integral
4) Take the square root
5) Square again
6) Multiply by 2
7) Have dessert


love that one too

Author:  GoRo [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

jts wrote:
GoRo wrote:
1. Assume natural numbers p and q such that (p/q)^3 = 2.
2. Then p^3 / q^3 = 2,
3. i.e. p^3 = 2 * q^3 = q^3 + q^3.
4. Let a = q, b = q, c = p.
5. Then a^3 + b^3 = c^3 for some natural numbers a, b and c.
6. That contradicts Fermat.
7. Thus the assumption led to a contradiction.
8. q.e.d.

The first error is in line ....?

6. (Or are you being pedantic about the fact that no step in the proof assumes Fermat, so 6 -> 7 is non sequitur?)

Being pedantic is not so bad in mathematical context, no?
"Fermat" is short for the (meanwhile proven) fact that there
are no natural numbers a, b, c such that a^n + b^n = c^n for
natural numbers n > 2.
Thus step 5. proposes something which is impossible.
That is, what my lines #6 and #7 are telling.

I really cannot detect a circular reasoning. That would be the case
if I wrote propositions p_1, p_2, p_3 etc. such that not all p_i
could be proven from the p_j with j < i, but at least one of the
p_i needed some p_j to be true, where j > i.

I completely agree that the unsolvability of (p/q)^3 = 2 is such
an easy thing to prove that it is part of "Fermat". But I doubt
you can call that a circulus vitiosus. At least I see your
point: you are trying to see "Fermat" not as a monolithic "fact",
but you glance into the how-and-why of this proven truth.

Greetings,
Rainer

Author:  Dusk Eagle [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 8:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

Mine would either have to be Cantor's diagonalization proof for uncountable sets, or Gödel's first incompleteness theorem.

Author:  jts [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

GoRo wrote:
But I doubt you can call that a circulus vitiosus.


If you do not assume that Fermat's theorem is true, then our proof is false by non sequitur. If, on the other hand, you treat step 6 as an enthymeme which implies "... and we have a proof that Fermat's theorem is true," then our proof is false by petitio principii, since the proof of the theorem itself assumes our demonstrandum.

Author:  GoRo [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 12:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: which is your favourite mathematical prof/teorem?

jts wrote:
If you do not assume that Fermat's theorem is true, then our proof is false by non sequitur.
Fermat's theorem *is* true.

Quote:
... an enthymeme ... false by petitio principii ...
I see. I thought we were talking about mathematics, not rhetoric.
In rhetoric you may be right, in mathematics you are not.

Cheers,
Rainer

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