# Month: January 2021

## Graph Coloring: Working Through a Proof

(A new question of the week) The Math Doctors have different levels of knowledge in various fields; I myself tend to focus on topics through calculus, which I know best, and leave the higher-level questions to others who are more recently familiar with them. But sometimes, both here and in my tutoring at a community …

## The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci

We’re looking at the Fibonacci sequence, and have seen connections to a number called phi (φ or $$\phi$$), commonly called the Golden Ratio. I want to look at some geometrical connections and other interesting facts about this number before we get back to the Fibonacci numbers themselves and some inductive proofs involving them.

## Introducing the Fibonacci Sequence

We’ve been examining inductive proof in preparation for the Fibonacci sequence, which is a playground for induction. Here we’ll introduce the sequence, and then prove the formula for the nth term using two different methods, using induction in a way we haven’t seen before.

## Angles in a Star

(A new question of the week) I like problems that can be solved in multiple ways, which can train us in seeing the world from different perspectives. Late in November we dealt with a pair of such questions involving angles in star-like figures.

## Inductive Proofs: More Examples

Last week we looked at examples of induction proofs: some sums of series and a couple divisibility proofs. This time, I want to do a couple inequality proofs, and a couple more series, in part to show more of the variety of ways the details of an inductive proof can be handled.

## Inductive Proofs: Four Examples

Last week we looked at introductory explanations of what mathematical induction is, including answers to some misunderstandings of the concept. But we only looked at one trivial example of such a proof; for a real understanding of the technique, we need some fuller examples. For that purpose, I have chosen a few questions we have …

## Two Inside-Out Limit Problems

(A new question of the week) Limits can be challenging. They can be even more challenging when they require L’Hôpital’s rule or more advanced methods (Maclaurin series), and then are turned inside-out by asking not for the limit itself, but for parameters that will result in a specified limit, or what values of the limit …