June 11, 2009 - 3:25 PM
Posted in Mathematics | No comments
One of the most powerful of methods of finding mathematical proofs is “proof by contradiction”. Say you have to prove some statement S. You start by assuming that the exact opposite of S is true. Proceeding further, you should reach some logical contradiction, which tells you that assuming that S isn’t true was not correct [...]
June 10, 2009 - 3:08 PM
Posted in Algebra, Mathematics | 2 comments
In this article, we’ll discuss a very powerful inequality called the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality:
Here, we’ll see how we can justify this inequality, and in another article, we’ll discuss its applications.
Proof – 1
The form of the inequality suggests that if we can somehow construct a quadratic equation where some condition can be imposed on its discriminant, we [...]
May 21, 2009 - 2:29 PM
Posted in Algebra, Mathematics, Puzzles | 2 comments
<Problem taken from LOCUS Math study material>
The problem we are going to discuss is publicly one of the most well known problems in probability. This version of the problem and its solution have been taken from Wikipedia.
Suppose you are in a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is [...]
April 30, 2009 - 8:04 PM
Posted in Algebra, Geometry, Mathematics | No comments
Most of us are familiar with Euler’s (miraculous) formula:
However, how many of us have actually given much thought to why this should hold true? Even more fundamental is the question that what meaning should be attached to raising a real number like e to a complex power iθ.
Many math authors will propose this formula [...]