User:Prime.mover/Proof Structures/Proof by Mathematical Induction

Proof by Mathematical Induction
The proof proceeds by induction.

For all $n \in \N_{> 0}$, let $P \left({n}\right)$ be the proposition:
 * $proposition_n$

$P \left({1}\right)$ is true, as this just says:
 * $proposition_1$

Basis for the Induction
$P \left({2}\right)$ is the case:
 * $proposition_2$

which has been proved above.

This is the basis for the induction.

Induction Hypothesis
Now it needs to be shown that, if $P \left({k}\right)$ is true, where $k \ge 2$, then it logically follows that $P \left({k + 1}\right)$ is true.

So this is the induction hypothesis:
 * $proposition_k$

from which it is to be shown that:
 * $proposition_{k + 1}$

Induction Step
This is the induction step:

So $P \left({k}\right) \implies P \left({k + 1}\right)$ and the result follows by the Principle of Mathematical Induction.

Therefore:
 * $proposition_n$