A Unique Proof Without Induction

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
  • We prove Nicomachus' theorem, that (1^3 + 2^3 + ... + n^3) = (1 + 2 + ... + n)^2. The proof relies on manipulation of summations, rather than induction or geometric reasoning.
    00:00 Intro
    00:45 Setup
    01:36 Double summation
    04:43 Evaluating the double summation

ความคิดเห็น • 56

  • @nathanisbored
    @nathanisbored 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +78

    i like how some geometry still snuck in there with the multiplication table

    • @DrBarker
      @DrBarker  5 หลายเดือนก่อน +22

      Yes! While it's technically a purely algebraic proof, that particular step can be seen in quite a nice, geometric way.

    • @idjles
      @idjles 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@DrBarkerI think there is every more geometry here with stacking cubes inside cubes and filling the gaps with squares. A cube has the volume of the next cube down + 3 square faces + 1 unit square.
      A completely geometric proof without algebra would be possible here.

    • @abhishankpaul
      @abhishankpaul 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      At one time algebraic questions were geometrically solved before mathematical notations for operators were developed

    • @Amoeby
      @Amoeby 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      More like matrix than geometry.

  • @rob876
    @rob876 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +21

    This is somewhat more satisfying than the induction proof.

  • @eauna0029
    @eauna0029 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

    What a neat proof! Inserting the sum of the first n integers was such an unexpected but great trick over there too; I completely though you'd abuse that "telescopation" in a different way, or you'd exploit reversing the summation order (to go column by column instead of row by row), but this was a very nice one!

  • @joseivan2337
    @joseivan2337 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    By the Fubini's theorem when both limits in the first final summation are independent the double sum is the product of the simple sums, which gives sum of i from 1 to n, the whole summation squared

  • @sr6424
    @sr6424 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

    Your videos inspire me. I guess my level of maths is a lot lower than your viewers. In the past few months I have started running puzzle evenings in a local bar. A vastly simplified version of this could make it into the next evening! Thanks.

    • @DrBarker
      @DrBarker  5 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      This is great to hear! Maybe an example just using a specific value of n could be made to work. Do let me know if it makes it into the next evening!

    • @Sasseater
      @Sasseater 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      Puzzle night at the bar sounds like a blast! I may be a math major but after a few drinks a simplified version is likely right up my alley! 🍺

    • @sr6424
      @sr6424 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@Sasseater I did the first one a few weeks ago. It’s rally small bar who needed to attract business on Thursday evening’s. A few maths questions and word questions. The people loved it and the next one is selling out fast. An example of a question. An 11 digit number. The first digit is perfect square, the first two digits are a perfect square, the first 6 digits are a perfect square and all 11 digits are a perfect square? No one got it right! And calculators were allowed!

    • @KSignalEingang
      @KSignalEingang 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@sr6424 16,646,418,441. What do I win?

  • @elrichardo1337
    @elrichardo1337 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

    nice one! I’ve also seen ways to prove this using finite differences

  • @zathrasyes1287
    @zathrasyes1287 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    That's a nice one. Thx a lot.

  • @armanavagyan1876
    @armanavagyan1876 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Awesome 👍

  • @johngrint8231
    @johngrint8231 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Loved it!

  • @bjornfeuerbacher5514
    @bjornfeuerbacher5514 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    A beautiful proof. :)

  • @AutoDisheep
    @AutoDisheep 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thank you for the video

  • @eugeniodiazbarriga8140
    @eugeniodiazbarriga8140 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Muy bella prueba.

  • @merwan.houiralami
    @merwan.houiralami 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    beatiful proof

  • @mauisstepsis5524
    @mauisstepsis5524 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    That serious look at the end makes me giggle.

  • @user-rn9bu3ce6l
    @user-rn9bu3ce6l 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    不能直接积分吗?

  • @anastasissfyrides2919
    @anastasissfyrides2919 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    By using the closed form for Σk arent you silently using induction in the proof?

  • @samaelantoniogamboaquezada3589
    @samaelantoniogamboaquezada3589 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    ¡Qué interesante!

  • @jackkalver4644
    @jackkalver4644 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    But can you prove the inner sum without induction?

  • @usernameisamyth
    @usernameisamyth 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    good one

  • @cmilkau
    @cmilkau 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    (n + 1)² - (n - 1)² = 4n. Now multiply by n²/4

    • @vat1n456
      @vat1n456 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      More precisely :
      when you multiply both side of the equation with n^2/4, you get
      n^3 = n^2*(n+1)^2/4- (n-1)^2*n^2/4
      = (n(n+1)/2)^2)-((n-1)n/2)^2
      (you can recognize the sum of terms between 1 and n or n-1)
      Given an integer k, let's call S(k) = ((k(k+1))/2)^2
      To sum up, n^3 = S(n) - S(n-1).
      We easily see a telescopic sum :
      n^3 + ... + 2^3 + 1^3
      =S(n) - S(n-1) + S(n-1) -... +S(0)
      =S(n) - S(0)
      =S(n)
      =(1+2+...+n)^2

  • @mathpath7775
    @mathpath7775 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Nice

  • @merwan.houiralami
    @merwan.houiralami 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    i wanna die after seeing how you do your sum sign 😂😂

    • @Jono4174
      @Jono4174 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      How about the long second between 2:00 and 2:01 with the failed minus sign?

  • @cassianocaro4916
    @cassianocaro4916 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    this question apered in a similar way in a braziliam olympiad, all tho the exponents were indetermined, and u had determin them

  • @TikeMyson69
    @TikeMyson69 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Neat.

  • @dalibormaksimovic6399
    @dalibormaksimovic6399 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    There is a proof that goes like this: If a1 < a2 < a3 < ... < an, where ai is the natural number, and (a1 + a2 +...+ an)^2 = a1^3 + ... + an^3, then ai = i.

  • @MyOneFiftiethOfADollar
    @MyOneFiftiethOfADollar 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Michael Penn sometimes dons a shirt with this particular integer identity.
    A suitable definition for a nerd among the nerds.
    Nice to see non induction way of showing this.

  • @KSignalEingang
    @KSignalEingang 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I first stumbled on this equivalence one night while trying to go to sleep... Not only did it cost me that night's rest, I wasted most of the next couple days trying to figure out why it was true. It seems like the sort of thing you should be able to do with basic grade school algebra, but I quickly got frustrated and wound up looking up some proofs online. Most of these - at least, the ones I understood - were of the visual/geometric variety. Which was fine, but a bit unsatisfying... Like they did not so much show the "why" of it as just restate it in building blocks instead of numbers.
    So, this proof was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for! Tbh I still find the equivalence itself fairly incredible (in several senses of the word), but it's nice seeing it proved with calculations I can actually follow.

    • @jursamaj
      @jursamaj 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I'd say visual and geometric proofs show "why" just as much as algebraic ones.

  • @georgecswong8
    @georgecswong8 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    My proof is that (1+2+3+4………….+n)=n(n+1)/2
    (1+2+…..n)^2=(n(n+1)/2)^2=(n^4+2n^3+n^2)/4
    (1+2+3+4…..+n-1)=(n-1)(n+1-1)/2=(n-1)n/2
    (1+2+3……..+n-1)^2=(n^4-2n^3+n^2)/4
    (Sum of 1 to n)^2-(sum of 1 to n-1)^2=n^3
    (Sum of 1 to n-1)^2- (sum of 1 to n-2)^2=(n-1)^3
    (Sum of 1 to n)^2=n^3

  • @endersteph
    @endersteph 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Hi. This is a fantastic video, but I'd just like to point out that the sum from 1 to 0 of anything is absolutely well-defined, and is equal to zero. (It is the sum over all integers i satisfying 1 ≤ i ≤ 0, that is it is the sum over the elements of the empty set (so an empty sum), which is by convention defined as the neutral element for addition, i.e. 0)

  • @user-ud6ui7zt3r
    @user-ud6ui7zt3r 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Imagine a world in which, instead of firing missiles at each other, countries simply sent Olympiad Math Challenges at each other. Or angry Dance Off challenges. Take your pick.

    • @jursamaj
      @jursamaj 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Except the loser of the challenge still has missiles…

  • @ezvac1421
    @ezvac1421 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    4:00 you say the sum is not defined but it is and is equal to 0

    • @jursamaj
      @jursamaj 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      You should have timestamped that to 3:45. And no, summing terms for 1 to 0 is not well defined. One could easily argue that it should by the negative of the sum for 0 to 1, just like you flipped integrals that go backwards.

    • @ezvac1421
      @ezvac1421 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@jursamaj its a convention, the sum from 0 to -1 is indeed 0 you can ask anybody

  • @sebastianmanterfield3132
    @sebastianmanterfield3132 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    at ~ 7:00 you omitted the induction 😿

    • @vat1n456
      @vat1n456 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      n(n+1)/2 = 1+2+3+...+n
      1) It's a simpler induction
      2) It can be proven geometrically

  • @guessundheit6494
    @guessundheit6494 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Those upside down sigmas are disturbing. 😁

  • @CutleryChips
    @CutleryChips 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Answers to Questions that no one asked

    • @Freefallendless
      @Freefallendless 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Mad?

    • @CutleryChips
      @CutleryChips 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Don’t listen to the person who has the answers, listen to the person who has the questions. - Albert Einstein

  • @NotBroihon
    @NotBroihon 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This is such a nice proof but I can't get over how janky you are drawing the sigmas lmao

  • @MichaelRothwell1
    @MichaelRothwell1 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    This is a delightful proof! I think it could be nice to run it backwards. Start with the the (sum of the integers from 1 to n)² and use your diagram to split this into two equal triangular double sums and the sum of the squares of the integers from 1 to n, then convert the double triangular sum to the sum of k³-k² for k from 2 to n, by again running your argument backwards, and we are done.
    Here are the details.
    We want to prove that
    ∑(k=1 to n)k³=[∑(k=1 to n)k]²
    For this proof we'll manipulate the RHS until it becomes the LHS.
    [∑(k=1 to n)k]²
    =[∑(k=1 to n)k][∑(i=1 to n)i]
    =∑(k=1 to n)∑(i=1 to n)ki
    =∑(k=1 to n)[∑(1≤i

    • @MichaelRothwell1
      @MichaelRothwell1 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      P.S. I have edited my comment to include the "reverse" solution in detail.

  • @user-ud6ui7zt3r
    @user-ud6ui7zt3r 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    John Berry's *perfect cube...*
    𝑤³ + 𝑥³ + 𝑦³ = 𝑧³; 3³ + 4³ + 5³ = 6³
    27 + 64 + 125 = 216
    216 = 216 ✅ ; SO-... if we set-up the 𝑛=5 case minus the 𝑛=2 case...
    (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5)² - (1 + 2)² = 225 - 9 = 216
    216 = 216 ✅ ; AND... if we set-up the 𝑛=6 case minus the 𝑛=5 case...
    (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6)² - (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5)² = 441 - 225 = 216
    216 = 216 ✅

  • @dakcom-mk6mp
    @dakcom-mk6mp 15 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Nice