Mathematical Induction

Mathematical Induction is used when proving a statement about the positive integers.

Mathematical Induction has two main parts:

(I) Show the statement is true at the beginning. This is called the base case, usually when n = 1 .

(II) Show that if the statement is true when n =k , then it is also true when n = k +1 .

If both (I) and (II) hold, then the statement holds for all integers starting at the base case.

n
n(n+1)(2 n+1)
Example: Prove that for all integers n ≥ 1 , ∑ i2 = 6
.
i=1

1
 n
Example: Prove that for all integers n ≥ 1 , 7 − 1 is divisible by six.

n
Example: Prove that whenever n ≥ 4 , n!≥2 .