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Ed Quanta
Feb6-04, 01:08 AM
How do you go about proving a statement like n^3>n^2 for n is equal to or greater than 2? I can prove this using mathematical induction, but I am unsure how to show n^3-n^2 is an element of the set of natural numbers without just saying in general that this must always yield a number equal to or greater than 1.

suyver
Feb6-04, 02:57 AM
Can't you just say that because

\forall\alpha>1:\alpha n^2 > n^2

we must conclude that

\forall n>1: n^3 > n^2

HallsofIvy
Feb6-04, 07:36 AM
Why not just note that n3- n2= n2(n-1)? As long as n> 1, this will be a positive integer.

Ed Quanta
Feb6-04, 09:42 AM
Yeah, Halls of Ivy, thats what I was thinking. It just looked like too short a proof so I thought I was missing something. Thanks dudes.