题目
(a) A student’s attempt to answer the question
“Prove by contradiction that if is even, then is even”
is shown below. Line 5 of the proof is missing.
Complete this proof by filling in line 5.
(b) Hence, prove by contradiction that is irrational.
题目中文翻译
(a) 某位学生尝试回答下列问题:
“用反证法证明:如果 是偶数,那么 是偶数”
其证明过程如下所示,其中第 5 行缺失。
补全这个证明,填入第 5 行。
(b) 进而用反证法证明 是无理数。
解答
(a)
解法一
思路
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把展开式中除常数 外的各项提出公因数 ,便可把 写成“偶数加 ”的形式,从而说明它是奇数并得到矛盾。
答题过程
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The missing line is
(b)
解法一
思路
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承接 (a),反设 是有理数,并写成最简分数 。立方后先证明 为偶数,因此 为偶数;代入 后又能证明 为偶数,因此 也为偶数。这与 已是最简分数矛盾。
答题过程
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Assume, for a contradiction, that is rational. Then there exist integers and , with , such that
where and have no common factor.
Cubing both sides gives
so
Thus is even. By the result in part (a), is even, so for some integer .
Substituting into gives
Hence,
Therefore is even, so part (a) implies that is also even.
Both and are therefore divisible by , contradicting the assumption that is in its simplest form. Hence,