In this series, I’m compiling some of the quips and one-liners that I’ll use with my students to hopefully make my lessons more memorable for them.
Suppose that my students need to prove a theorem like “Let be an integer. Then is odd if and only if is odd.” I’ll ask my students, “What is the structure of this proof?”
The key is the phrase “if and only if”. So this theorem requires two proofs:
Assume that is odd, and show that is odd.
Assume that is odd, and show that is odd.
I call this a blue-light special: Two for the price of one. Then we get down to the business of proving both directions of the theorem.
I’ll also use the phrase “blue-light special” to refer to the conclusion of the conjugate root theorem: if a polynomial with real coefficients has a complex root , then is also a root. It’s a blue-light special: two for the price of one.
I'm a Professor of Mathematics and a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of North Texas. For eight years, I was co-director of Teach North Texas, UNT's program for preparing secondary teachers of mathematics and science.
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