What is wrong with the following "proof"? Claim. All horses are the same color. Proof. By induction on n, the number of horses. If n = 1, then there is only one horse, so only one color, so it's trivially the same color as itself. Now suppose that the statement is true for k- 1 horses, and we'll show it holds for k horses. Line the horses up, and consider the first 1 horses. By the inductive hypothesis, they must be the same color. Now consider the last k -1 horses. Again, they must be the same color. But the horses in the middle couldn't have changed color, so all k horses must be the same color. -

Advanced Engineering Mathematics
10th Edition
ISBN:9780470458365
Author:Erwin Kreyszig
Publisher:Erwin Kreyszig
Chapter2: Second-order Linear Odes
Section: Chapter Questions
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Answer the following question accordingly:
What is wrong with the following “proof"?
Claim. All horses are the same color.
Proof. By induction on n, the number of horses. If n = 1, then there
is only one horse, so only one color, so it's trivially the same color as
itself.
Now suppose that the statement is true for k – 1 horses, and we'll
show it holds for k horses. Line the horses up, and consider the first
k – 1 horses. By the inductive hypothesis, they must be the same
color. Now consider the last k - 1 horses. Again, they must be the
-
-
same color. But the horses in the middle couldn't have changed color,
so all k horses must be the same color.
Transcribed Image Text:What is wrong with the following “proof"? Claim. All horses are the same color. Proof. By induction on n, the number of horses. If n = 1, then there is only one horse, so only one color, so it's trivially the same color as itself. Now suppose that the statement is true for k – 1 horses, and we'll show it holds for k horses. Line the horses up, and consider the first k – 1 horses. By the inductive hypothesis, they must be the same color. Now consider the last k - 1 horses. Again, they must be the - - same color. But the horses in the middle couldn't have changed color, so all k horses must be the same color.
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