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Questions tagged [natural-numbers]

For question about natural numbers $\Bbb N$, their properties and applications

5 votes
4 answers
3k views

Prove $3^n \ge n^3$ by induction

Yep, prove $3^n \ge n^3$, $n \in \mathbb{N}$. I can do this myself, but can't figure out any kind of "beautiful" way to do it. The way I do it is: Assume $3^n \ge n^3$ Now, $(n+1)^3 = n^3 + 3n^...
Alexander Kuzmin's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
473 views

How to show $n=1+\sum_{k=1}^{n}\left\lfloor{\log_2\frac{2n-1}{2k-1}}\right\rfloor$ for every natural number $n$.

While answering a question here I noticed that: $$n=1+\sum_{k=1}^{n}{\left\lfloor{\log_2\frac{2n-1}{2k-1}}\right\rfloor}$$ for every natural number $n$. I tried to demonstrate it using Legendre's ...
Fabius Wiesner's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is there a connection between $\zeta(-1)$ and Ramanujan's calculation of the sum over $\mathbb{N}$?

Let me elaborate a little on the matter that I've been mulling over for a little while. This essentially concerns the summation of $1+2+3+...$, how it equals $-1/12$ (in a certain sense, obviously not ...
PrincessEev's user avatar
  • 45.9k
4 votes
1 answer
348 views

What is the mathematical definition of "standard arithmetic/standard natural numbers"?

As a consequence of Godel's incompleteness theorem, no axiomatic system can be the definition of standard natural numbers because any axiomatic system of arithmetic will always be satisfied by non-...
Ryder Rude's user avatar
  • 1,437
3 votes
1 answer
165 views

Proof that $\sum_{i=1}^n{1} = n$ for all $n \in \Bbb Z^+$

It seems obvious that $$\forall n \in \Bbb Z^+, \sum_{i=1}^n{1} = n $$ However, I'm having trouble coming up with a formal proof for this. Given a concrete number like $4$, we can say that $$\sum_{i=...
Ypnypn's user avatar
  • 440
3 votes
3 answers
5k views

proof by induction that every non-zero natural number has a predecessor

I am trying to prove by induction that every non-zero natural number has at least one predecessor. However, I don't know what to use as a base case, since 0 is not non-zero and I haven't yet ...
Adam's user avatar
  • 3,456
3 votes
2 answers
23k views

Prove the commutativity property of addition of natural numbers by induction

the background I'm allowed to deal with to solve this problem is as follows: Definition of +: \begin{equation} m+0=m\quad \text{for all}\quad m \in \mathbb{N} \\ m+(k+1) = (m+k)+1 \end{equation} in ...
C. Moos's user avatar
  • 150
3 votes
3 answers
5k views

proof of commutativity of multiplication for natural numbers using Peano's axiom

How do you prove commutativity of multiplication using peano's axioms.I know we have to use induction and I have already proved n*1=1*n.But I cant think of how to prove the inductive step.
HRI's user avatar
  • 379
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Combinatorics - How many numbers between 1 and 10000 are not squared or cubed?

Simple question. How many numbers between 1 and 10000 can't be written as $n^2$ or $n^3$ when $n \in \mathbb N$? I know the way to solve this is with inclusion-exclusion. but for that I need to find ...
Oria Gruber's user avatar
  • 12.8k
3 votes
1 answer
307 views

Better representaion of natural numbers as sets?

Natural numbers can be represented as $0=\emptyset$ $1=\{\emptyset\}$ $2=\{\{\emptyset\}\}$ $...$ or as $0=\emptyset$ $1=\{0\}=0\cup\{0\}$ $2=\{0,1\}=1\cup\{1\}$ $...$ What are the names of ...
Suzan Cioc's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
119 views

Defining Addition of Natural Numbers as the Algebra of 'Push-Along' Functions

Let $N$ be a set containing an element $1$ and $\sigma: N \to N$ an injective function satisfying the following two properties: $\tag 1 1 \notin \sigma(N)$ $\tag 2 (\forall M \subset N) \;\text{If } ...
CopyPasteIt's user avatar
  • 11.5k
3 votes
1 answer
84 views

Surjectivity of floor of harmonic sequence

Define $$H_n := \displaystyle\sum_{k=1}^n \dfrac 1k $$ The problem asks to prove that the map $\phi:\mathbb{N}^\star \longrightarrow \mathbb{N}^\star $ defined by $$\phi(n) := \lfloor H_n \rfloor $$...
ahmed's user avatar
  • 1,283
3 votes
1 answer
170 views

An apparently harmless exercise concerning induction

Let $b \in \mathbb{R}, b \ge 2$. Prove by induction that $$(b^n - 1)(b^n - b)(b^n -b^2)\cdots(b^n - b^{n-2}) \ge b^{n(n-1)}-b^{n(n-1)-1}$$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}, n \ge 1$. For the case $n = 2$, I ...
Riccardo's user avatar
  • 1,304
2 votes
1 answer
175 views

To prove that $(\mathbb{P(N)},d)$ is a metric space

To prove that $(\mathbb{P(N)},d)$ is a metric space where $\mathbb{P(N)}$ is the power set of $\mathbb{N}$. And $d:\mathbb{P(N)}\times \mathbb{P(N)} \mapsto\mathbb{R}$ is defined by $d(A,B)=\begin{...
Subhasis Biswas's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
467 views

Intersection of a non-empty set of natural numbers (set-theoretic definition) gives an element of that set?

Consider the following set-theoretic definition of natural numbers: $0$ is defined as $\emptyset$ If $n$ is defined, then the successor of $n$ is defined as $n^+ = \{n\} \cup n$ Thus $1 = \{0\}$, $2 ...
Elliott's user avatar
  • 4,154

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