Mathematical Induction

This book serves as a very good resource and teaching material for anyone who wants to discover the beauty of Induction and its applications, from novice mathematicians to Olympiad-driven students and professors teaching undergraduate courses. The authors explore 10 different areas of mathematics, including topics that are not usually discussed in an Olympiad-oriented book on the subject. Induction is one of the most important techniques used in competitions and its applications permeate almost every area of mathematics.

Handbook of Mathematical Induction: Theory and Applications shows how to find and write proofs via mathematical induction. This comprehensive book covers the theory, the structure of the written proof, all standard exercises, and hundreds of application examples from nearly every area of mathematics. In the first part of the book, the author discusses different inductive techniques, including well-ordered sets, basic mathematical induction, strong induction, double induction, infinite descent, downward induction, and several variants. He then introduces ordinals and cardinals, transfinite induction, the axiom of choice, Zorn's lemma, empirical induction, and fallacies and induction. He also explains how to write inductive proofs. The next part contains more than 750 exercises that highlight the levels of difficulty of an inductive proof, the variety of inductive techniques available, and the scope of results provable by mathematical induction. Each self-contained chapter in this section includes the necessary definitions, theory, and notation and covers a range of theorems and problems, from fundamental to very specialized. The final part presents either solutions or hints to the exercises. Slightly longer than what is found in most texts, these solutions provide complete details for every step of the problem-solving process.

A Spiral Workbook for Discrete Mathematics covers the standard topics in a sophomore-level course in discrete mathematics: logic, sets, proof techniques, basic number theory, functions,relations, and elementary combinatorics, with an emphasis on motivation. The text explains and claries the unwritten conventions in mathematics, and guides the students through a detailed discussion on how a proof is revised from its draft to a nal polished form. Hands-on exercises help students understand a concept soon after learning it. The text adopts a spiral approach: many topics are revisited multiple times, sometimes from a dierent perspective or at a higher level of complexity, in order to slowly develop the student's problem-solving and writing skills.

Focusing on the formal development of mathematics, this book shows readers how to read, understand, write, and construct mathematical proofs.Uses elementary number theory and congruence arithmetic throughout. Focuses on writing in mathematics. Reviews prior mathematical work with “Preview Activities” at the start of each section. Includes “Activities” throughout that relate to the material contained in each section. Focuses on Congruence Notation and Elementary Number Theorythroughout.For professionals in the sciences or engineering who need to brush up on their advanced mathematics skills. Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof, 2/E Theodore Sundstrom

According to the great mathematician Paul Erdös, God maintains perfect mathematical proofs in The Book. This book presents the authors candidates for such "perfect proofs," those which contain brilliant ideas, clever connections, and wonderful observations, bringing new insight and surprising perspectives to problems from number theory, geometry, analysis, combinatorics, and graph theory. As a result, this book will be fun reading for anyone with an interest in mathematics.

Induction in Geometry discusses the application of the method of mathematical induction to the solution of geometric problems, some of which are quite intricate. The book contains 37 examples with detailed solutions and 40 for which only brief hints are provided. Most of the material requires only a background in high school algebra and plane geometry; chapter six assumes some knowledge of solid geometry, and the text occasionally employs formulas from trigonometry. Chapters are self-contained, so readers may omit those for which they are unprepared. To provide additional background, this volume incorporates the concise text, The Method of Mathematical Induction. This approach introduces this technique of mathematical proof via many examples from algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, and in greater detail than standard texts. A background in high school algebra will largely suffice; later problems require some knowledge of trigonometry. The combination of solved problems within the text and those left for readers to work on, with solutions provided at the end, makes this volume especially practical for independent study.

In this volume one finds basic techniques from algebra and number theory (e.g. congruences, unique factorization domains, finite fields, quadratic residues, primality tests, continued fractions, etc.) which in recent years have proven to be extremely useful for applications to cryptography and coding theory. Both cryptography and codes have crucial applications in our daily lives, and they are described here, while the complexity problems that arise in implementing the related numerical algorithms are also taken into due account. Cryptography has been developed in great detail, both in its classical and more recent aspects. In particular public key cryptography is extensively discussed, the use of algebraic geometry, specifically of elliptic curves over finite fields, is illustrated, and a final chapter is devoted to quantum cryptography, which is the new frontier of the field. Coding theory is not discussed in full; however a chapter, sufficient for a good introduction to the subject, has been devoted to linear codes. Each chapter ends with several complements and with an extensive list of exercises, the solutions to most of which are included in the last chapter. Though the book contains advanced material, such as cryptography on elliptic curves, Goppa codes using algebraic curves over finite fields, and the recent AKS polynomial primality test, the authors' objective has been to keep the exposition as self-contained and elementary as possible. Therefore the book will be useful to students and researchers, both in theoretical (e.g. mathematicians) and in applied sciences (e.g. physicists, engineers, computer scientists, etc.) seeking a friendly introduction to the important subjects treated here. The book will also be useful for teachers who intend to give courses on these topics.