EXHAUSTIVE PROOF AND

PROOF BY CASES
EXHAUSTIVE PROOF

• Number of possible cases is relatively small

• A special type of proof by cases
• Prove by checking a relatively small number of cases
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 2

• Prove that only consecutive positive integers not exceeding 50 that are perfect
powers are 8 and 9.
• a=2 1,4,9,16,25,36,49
• a=3 1,8, 27
• a=4 1,16 Definition:
An integer is a perfect power if it
• a=5 1,32 equals na where a is an integer
• a=6 1 greater than 1.
PROOF BY CASES

• Proof by cases must cover all possible cases

EXAMPLE 3
EXAMPLE 4
EXAMPLE 5
LEVERAGING PROOF BY CASES

• When you can’t consider every case all at once

• When there’s no obvious way to start but extra information in
each case helps
EXAMPLE 6

• Formulate and prove a conjecture about the final digit of perfect

squares
• List some perfect squares
• Look at the final digit
• See a pattern???
• Theorem: The final digit of a perfect square is 0,1,4,5,6 or 9
• Proof:
n=10a + b, b € ( 0,1,2,…,9)
n2 = (10a + b) 2 = 10(10a2 + 2ab) + b2

Note: n2 and b2 have the same final digit

eE

eE
eE

eE
EXAMPLE 7
WITHOUT LOSS OF GENERALITY

• How to shorten the proof by cases

If same argument is used in different cases
• Incorrect use of this principle can lead errors
EXAMPLE 8
ERRORS IN PROOF

• If x is a real number, then x2 is a positive real number

• Proof
• Case 1: x is positive
• x2 is the product of two positive numbers, so x2 is positive
• Case 2: x is negative
• x2 is the product of two negative numbers, x2 is positive
• thus the theorem is true
• Case x=0 is missed
• Case 3: x=0
• x2 =0 , so x2 is not positive
• thus the theorem is false
EXISTENCE PROOF

• To prove Эx P(x)
• Constructive: find a witness
• Non constructive: shown without witness
EXAMPLE 9

• Show that there exist some integer that is expressible as the sum
of 2 cubes in 2 different ways
• Constructive proof: 1729 = 103 + 93 = 123 + 13
EXAMPLE 10
UNIQUENESS PROOF

• Existence: Эx P(x)
• Uniqueness: ∀𝑦 𝑃 𝑦 → 𝑦 = 𝑥
• ∃𝑥∀𝑦 𝑃 𝑥 ∧ 𝑃 𝑦 → 𝑦 = 𝑥
• ∃𝑥∀𝑦 𝑃 𝑦 ↔ 𝑦 = 𝑥
EXAMPLE 11

• 𝑎𝑟 + 𝑏 = 0 has a unique solution when 𝑎, 𝑏 are real and 𝑎 ≠ 0

• Proof:
• Existence
• • 𝑎𝑟 + 𝑏 = 0
• • 𝑎𝑟 = −𝑏
• • 𝑟 = − 𝑏𝑎
• Uniqueness
• Assume ∃𝑠 𝑎𝑠 + 𝑏 = 0
• Then, 𝑎𝑟 + 𝑏 = 𝑎𝑠 + 𝑏
• 𝑎𝑟 + 𝑏 − 𝑏 = 𝑎𝑠 + 𝑏 − 𝑏
• 𝑎𝑟 𝑎 = 𝑎𝑠 𝑎
•𝑟=𝑠
∴ 𝑟 = − 𝑏𝑎 is the solution to 𝑎𝑟 + 𝑏 = 0