Tuesday, February 11, 2014

6.2 due February 12

1. The most difficult part of the reading by far for me was understanding the proofs. The concept seems to work really well in my head. I understand the concept of induction: We have to prove the first value, then we assume it for an integer k and prove it for an integer k+1. Simple enough. But the book was right, the algebra is where people get confused. I just don't know when we're switching from RHS to LHS. I think I've always struggled a little bit with inequalities. Those greater/less than signs get me every time.

2. Well I was pretty excited when I did the reading and understood something about proofs with sets on the first time through. It's pretty awesome to see proofs that I already understood and knew well to be proved further. As far as I can see, induction is a fancy way to prove that things are true for every value. It's a nice way to feel really secure about theorems and be 100% sure they are true. I like it. I hope that I actually do understand it.

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