Department of Mathematics

Faculty of Science

B.Sc. IT (Hons.) Year I

Coursework Assignment II
MAT1804: Mathematics for Computing December 2022

Instructions
This assignment will assess your knowledge of the topics that we have been
covering recently in class, namely proofs, induction, relations and functions.

Read the following instructions carefully.

• This assignment consists of 10 questions and is out of 100 marks.
• Submit your solutions in PDF format on VLE by Tuesday, 6th December,
2022, no later than 12:00.
• Attempt all questions.

" This is not a group assignment: plagiarism will not be tolerated.

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 1. Prove the following for all n ∈ N:
(a) n3 − n is divisible by 6, [Hint: Factorise]
(b) np − n is divisible by p , for any prime p ,
[Hint: Induction with inductive step (n +1)p −(n +1), and use the binomial theorem.* ]

(c) n5 − n is divisible by 30. [Hint: Factorise]

[4, 5, 4 marks]

2. Prove or give a counterexample for each of the following.

(a) For every positive integer n,
1 + 12 + 13 + 41 + · · · + n1 < 4.

(b) Every odd integer can be written in the form a2 − b 2 for a,b ∈ N.
(c) For every natural number n, there is a sequence m + 1,...,m + n of
n consecutive numbers in N, none of which is prime.
(d) n2 − n + 41 is prime for all n ∈ N.
(e) If α + β, αβ are both rational, then α or β must be rational.
(f) There is a number N such that for all natural numbers n Ê N , we
can express n as a sum of 5’s and 12’s only.
[6 × 2 marks]

3. (a) Show that for x,y > 0,

2 p x +y
1 1
É xy É .
x +y
2

(b) Show that if a

b < dc , then
a a+c c
< < .
b b+d d

[4, 4 marks]
* If you need a refresher on binomial stuff, look at exercise 3.34 in the notes.

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 4. In this question, you may assume that every n ∈ Z can be expressed in
the form 4k , 4k + 1, 4k + 2 or 4k + 3 for some k ∈ Z.
(a) Show that a square is always of the form 4k or 4k + 1.
(b) A Pythagorean triple is a triple a,b,c ∈ N satisfying the Pythagorean
relation a2 + b 2 = c 2 . Show that at least one of a and b must be even.
[3, 5 marks]

n 1
5. (a) Show, for all n ∈ N, that
X
2
É 2.
k =1 k
[Hint: Show instead that the sum is É 2 − n1 .]

(b) Show that

1 1 1 1 n
1+ + +···+ n + n Ê 1+ .
2 3 2 −1 2 2
n
(c) Let Hn = 22 + 1. Prove that for all n ∈ N, Hn+1 = 2 + 3H1 · · · Hn .
[3 × 4 marks]

6. Let n ∈ N, and suppose an equilateral triangle is divided into 4n congruent

equilateral triangles, but with the top corner removed.

Figure 1: Cases with n = 1 and n = 2

Using induction, prove that the remaining 4n −1 triangles can be perfectly

covered using ‘tiles’ of this shape: . You are allowed to rotate (and
flip) these tiles as you please. Also, just to be clear, these tiles will be
properly sized for each n, so that they cover three triangles. For n = 1,
a single tile will cover all of the non-removed squares, and for n = 2 you
will need five tiles. [8 marks]

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 7. (a) Let A = Z ∩ [−4,4], B = {0,1,4,6,9,12,16,25} and f : A → B be the
function f (x) = x 2 . Determine the following.
(a) f ({1,2,3}) (b) f ({−4,4}) (c) f ({−3, −1,0,2,4})
(d) f −1 ({0,9}) (e) f −1 ({6}) (f) f −1 (B)
(b) Let f : R * R be the function f (x) = 1/x . Determine the following.
(a) f ((0,3]) (b) f −1 ({2}) (c) f ((−2, −1)∪[3,4])
(d) f −1 ([−1,1]) (e) f (f −1 (R)) (f) f −1 (f (R à {0}))
[4, 4 marks]

8. Let S = {(x,y ,z) ∈ R3 : x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = z } denote the unit-diameter sphere

(tangent at the origin to the xy -plane), and let S ′ = S à {(0,0,1)} denote
the sphere with its north pole removed. Define the function π : S ′ → R2
by ³ x y ´
π(x,y ,z) = , ,
1−z 1−z
which maps each point w ∈ S ′ to the point π(w ) where the ray from
(0,0,1) through the point w intersects the xy -plane (see figure 2).
z

(0,0,1)

w y

π(w )

x
Figure 2: The function π : S ′ → R2

(a) Show that π is a bijection,

(b) Hence, give a formula for π−1 (x,y ).
[6, 1 marks]

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 9. (a) Let f : X → Y be a total function, and let g = {〈〈y ,x 〉〉 : 〈〈x,y 〉〉 ∈ f }. If
g is also a total function, explain why f is a bijection.
(b) Show that A × (B ∩ C ) = (A × B) ∩ (A × C ).
(c) How many functions are there from {1,2,3} to {1,2,3}? How many
total functions are there? How many bijections are there?
In general, if #A = #B = n, how many functions f : A * B are
there? How many of them are total? How many are bijections?
[3, 4, 5 marks]

10. Let f : X → Y , and A,B ⊆ Y . Show that:

(a) f −1 (A ∩ B) = f −1 (A) ∩ f −1 (B),
(b) f −1 (A ∪ B) = f −1 (A) ∪ f −1 (B),
(c) If f is surjective, then f (f −1 (A)) = A.
[3 × 4 marks]

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