14-240/Tutorial-October7

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Boris

Subtle Problems in Proofs

Check out these proofs:

Proof 1

Let , be subspaces of a vector space . We show that is a subspace .

Assume that is a subspace.
Let .
Then and .
Then .
Case 1: :
Since and has additive inverses, then .
Then .
Case 2: :
Since and has additive inverses, then .
Then .
Then .
Then . Q.E.D.


(2) Let . Then , define

and . We show that is not a vector

space over .

We show that is not commutative.
Let .
Then .
Then is not commutative.
Then is not a vector space. Q.E.D.


Do you spot the subtle error in each?

Nikita