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 Mathematical Induction:
In mathematics, a conjecture is a mathematical statement which appears to be true, but has not
been formally proven. A conjecture can be thought of as the mathematicians’ way of saying, “I
believe that this is true, but I have no proof yet.”
A conjecture is a good guess or an idea about a pattern.

To take any pattern as a rule, we need to prove that the pattern will continue on forever.
One of the most powerful ways of doing this is a method called Mathematical Induction.
An inductive step means that you build upon previous work, rather than starting all over again.

The proof by induction takes place in 4 steps:

Step I: State the proposition.

Check / Prove that the statement is true for n = 1.

Step II: Assume that the statement is true for n = k

Step III: To Check / Prove that the statement is true for n = k + 1 using the assumption that it is
true for n = k.

Step IV: Conclude that since the conjecture is true for n = 1 and since it is true for n = k + 1,
assuming that it is true for k, it therefore must be true always.

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Example:

Use the principle of Mathematical induction to Show that,

n(n  1)
12  22  32  42  . . .  (1) n 1  n2  (1) n 1
2

State the proposition:

Let P(n) be the proposition that,
n(n  1)
12  22  32  42  . . .  (1) n 1  n2  (1) n 1 for all n  1
2

Step I:
Test the proposition for n  1
LHS = 12  1
(1)(1  1)
RHS = (1)11 1
2
 LHS = RHS
 the proposition P(n) is true for n  1

Step II: Assume that the proposition is true for n  k

k (k  1)
i.e. 12  22  32  42  . . .  (1) k 1  k 2  (1) k 1
2

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Step III: Inductive Step:

To Test / Prove that the proposition is true for n  k  1 ,
using the assumption that it is true for n  k
i.e. To prove that
(k  1)(k  2)
12  22  32  42  . . .  (1) k 1  k 2  (1) k  (k  1) 2  (1) k
2

LHS = 12  22  32  42  . . .  (1)k 1  k 2  (1) k  (k  1) 2

k (k  1)
= (1) k 1  (1) k  (k  1) 2
2
 (k )(k  1) 
= (1)k   (k  1)2 
 2 
 k 2  k  2(k  1)2 
= (1)k  
 2 
 k 2  k  2k 2  4k  2 
= (1)k  
 2 
 k 2  3k  2 
= (1)k  
 2 
(k  1)(k  2)
= (1) k
2
= RHS
 The proposition is true for n  k  1

Step IV: Conclusion:

Thus, if the proposition is true for n  k (Step II), then it is true for n  k  1
As it is true for n = 1, then it must be true for n = 1 + 1 (n = 2)
As it is true for n = 2, then it must be true for n = 2 + 1 (n = 3)
And so on for all positive integers n.

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1. Using mathematical induction, prove that the number 22n – 3n – 1 is

divisible by 9, for n = 1, 2, . . .

2. Use mathematical induction to prove that 5n + 9n + 2 is divisible by 4, for n  +

.

3. (a) Use mathematical induction to prove that

n

 (2 r  1) (2 r  1)  2 n  1 , n
1 n +
.
r 1

(b) Hence show that the sum of the first (n + 1) terms of the series

1 1 1 1 (n  1)
+ + + + ... is .
3 15 35 63 (2 n  3)

4. (a) Use mathematical induction to prove that

+
(1)(1!) + (2)(2!) + (3)(3!) + . . . + (n)(n!) = (n +1)!−1 where n .

(b) Find the minimum number of terms of the series for the sum to exceed 10 9.

5. Prove by induction that 12n + 2(5n−1) is a multiple of 7 for n  +

.

6. (a) Find the sum of the infinite geometric sequence 27, −9, 3, −1, . . .
+
(b) Use mathematical induction to prove that for n ,

2 n–1 
a 1 r n
.

a + ar + ar + ... + ar =
1 r

7. Prove by mathematical induction that, for n  +

,
2 3 n 1
1 1 1 1 n2
1 + 2   3   4   ...  n   4 .
2 2 2 2 2 n 1

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8. (a) Consider the following sequence of equations.

1
1×2= (1 × 2 × 3),
3
1
1 × 2 + 2 × 3 = (2 × 3 × 4),
3
1
1 × 2 + 2 × 3 + 3 × 4 = (3 × 4 × 5),
3
.... .

(i) Formulate a conjecture for the nth equation in the sequence.

(ii) Verify your conjecture for n = 4.

(b) A sequence of numbers has the nth term given by un = 2n + 3, n  +. Bill conjectures
that all members of the sequence are prime numbers. Show that Bill’s conjecture is
false.

(c) Use mathematical induction to prove that 5 × 7n + 1 is divisible by 6 for all n  +.

n
9. Prove by mathematical induction  r (r! )  (n  1)!  1, n 
r 1
+
.

10. (a) The sum of the first six terms of an arithmetic series is 81. The sum of its first eleven
terms is 231. Find the first term and the common difference.

(b) The sum of the first two terms of a geometric series is 1 and the sum of its first four
terms is 5. If all of its terms are positive, find the first term and the common ratio.

(c) The rth term of a new series is defined as the product of the rth term of the arithmetic
series and the rth term of the geometric series above. Show that the rth term of this new
series is (r + 1)2r–1.

(d) Using mathematical induction, prove that

n

 (r  1)2
r 1
r 1
 n2 n , n  +.

11. Use mathematical induction to prove that 5n + 9n + 2 is divisible by 4, for n  +

.

Induction Page 97
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12. (a) Show that sin 2 nx = sin((2n + 1)x) cos x – cos((2n + 1)x) sin x.

(b) Hence prove, by induction, that

sin 2nx
cos x + cos 3x + cos 5x + ... + cos((2n – 1)x) = ,
2 sin x
+
for all n  , sin x ≠ 0.

1
(c) Solve the equation cos x + cos 3x = , 0 < x < π.
2

13. (a) Evaluate (1 + i)2, where i = 1 .

(b) Prove, by mathematical induction, that (1 + i)4n = (–4)n, where n  *.

(c) Hence or otherwise, find (1 + i)32.

14. The roots of the equation z2 + 2z + 4 = 0 are denoted by α and β?

(a) Find α and β in the form reiθ.

(b) Given that α lies in the second quadrant of the Argand diagram, mark α and β on an
Argand diagram.

(c) Use the principle of mathematical induction to prove De Moivre’s theorem, which
states that cos nθ + i sin nθ = (cos θ + i sin θ)n for n  +.

3
(d) Using De Moivre’s theorem find 2 in the form a + ib.


(e) Using De Moivre’s theorem or otherwise, show that α3 = β3.

(f) Find the exact value of αβ* + βα* where α* is the conjugate of α and β* is the conjugate
of β.

(g) Find the set of values of n for which αn is real.

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15. (a) Prove, using mathematical induction, that for a positive integer n,

(cos + i sin)n = cos n + i sin n where i2 = –1.

(b) The complex number z is defined by z = cos + i sin.

1
(i) Show that = cos (–) + i sin (–).
z

(ii) Deduce that zn + z–n = 2 cos nθ.

(c) (i) Find the binomial expansion of (z + z–l)5.

1
(ii) Hence show that cos5 = (a cos 5 + b cos 3 + c cos ),
16
where a, b, c are positive integers to be found.

16. (a) Use mathematical induction to prove De Moivre’s theorem

(cos + i sin)n = cos (n) + i sin (n), n  +.

(b) Consider z5 – 32 = 0.

 2π   2π  
(i) Show that z1 = 2  cos    i sin    is one of the complex roots of this
  5   5 
equation.

(ii) Find z12, z13, z14, z15, giving your answer in the modulus argument form.

(iii) Plot the points that represent z1, z12, z13, z14 and z15, in the complex plane.

(iv) The point z1n is mapped to z1n+1 by a composition of two linear transformations,
where n = 1, 2, 3, 4. Give a full geometric description of the two transformations.

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17. Let u =1+ 3 i and v =1+ i where i2 = −1.

u 3 1 3 1
(a) (i) Show that   i.
v 2 2

(ii) By expressing both u and v in modulus-argument form show that

u  π π
 2  cos  i sin  .
v  12 12 

π
(iii) Hence find the exact value of tan in the form a  b 3 where a, b .
12
+
(b) Use mathematical induction to prove that for n ,

1 3 i  2
n n  nπ nπ 
 cos  i sin .
 3 3 

2 vu
(c) Let z = .
2 v u

Show that Re z = 0.

d n
18. Prove by mathematical induction that (x ) = nxn–1, for all positive integer values of n.
dx

dn  n 
19. Using mathematical induction, prove that (cos x )  cos x  , for all positive integer
 2 
n
dx
values of n.

20. Given that y = xe−x,

dy
(a) find ;
dx

dn y
(b) use mathematical induction to prove that, for n +
, n
; = (–1)n+1 e–x (n – x).
dx

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21. The function f is defined by f (x) = epx(x + 1), here p  .

(a) (i) Show that f (x) = epx(p(x + 1) + 1).

(ii) Let f (n)(x) denote the result of differentiating f (x) with respect to x, n times.
Use mathematical induction to prove that

f (n)(x) = pn–1epx (p(x + 1) + n), n  +

.

(b) When p = 3 , there is a minimum point and a point of inflexion on the graph of f.
Find the exact value of the x-coordinate of

(i) the minimum point;

(ii) the point of inflexion.

(c) Let p = 1 . Let R be the region enclosed by the curve, the x-axis and the lines x = –2
2
and x = 2. Find the area of R.

22. The function f is defined by f (x) = x e2x.

It can be shown that f (n) (x) = (2n x + n 2n−1) e2x for all n +
, where f (n) (x) represents the
nth derivative of f (x).

(a) By considering f (n) (x) for n =1 and n = 2, show that there is one minimum point P on
the graph of f, and find the coordinates of P.

(b) Show that f has a point of inflexion Q at x = −1.

(c) Determine the intervals on the domain of f where f is

(i) concave up;

(ii) concave down.

(d) Sketch f, clearly showing any intercepts, asymptotes and the points P and Q.

(e) Use mathematical induction to prove that f (n) (x) = (2nx + n2n−1) e2x for all n +
,
where f (n) (x) represents the nth derivative of f (x).

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23. (a) The independent random variables X and Y have Poisson distributions and Z = X +Y.
The means of X and Y are  and  respectively. By using the identity
n
P Z  n    P  X  k  P Y  n  k 
k 0

show that Z has a Poisson distribution with mean ( + ).

(b) Given that U1, U2, U3, … are independent Poisson random variables each having
n
mean m, use mathematical induction together with the result in (a) to show that U
r 1
r

has a Poisson distribution with mean nm.

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