Tuesday, February 23, 2016

elementary number theory - My proof of $m cdot 0 = 0 = 0 cdot m$ for all $m in mathbb{Z}$




I have the following proposition to prove:




For all $m \in\mathbb\ Z$, $m \cdot 0 = 0 = 0 \cdot m$




I can use the following axioms:





  1. commutativity

  2. associativity

  3. distributivity

  4. identity for addition ($0$)

  5. identity for multiplication ($1$)

  6. additive inverse

  7. cancellation: Let $m,n,p$ be integers. If $m \cdot n = m \cdot p$ and $m \ne 0$, then $n = p$.



Here is my proof:




\begin{align*}
m \cdot 0 &= m \cdot (m + (-m))\\
m \cdot 0 &= (m \cdot m) + (m \cdot (-m))\\
m \cdot 0 &= (m \cdot m) +(m \cdot -1 \cdot m) \\
m \cdot 0 &= (m \cdot m) +-1 \cdot (m \cdot m) \\
m \cdot 0 &= (m \cdot m) - (m \cdot m) \\
m \cdot 0 &= 0
\end{align*}




However, I am not sure, given a simple set of axioms, that this solution is correct. More specifically, is factoring $-m$ as $-1 \cdot m$ acceptable? Or is another proposition that I should prove beforehand?


Answer



Assume that m is an integer. By the commutative property we know that m.0 = 0.m.



Now, we only need to prove only that m.0 = 0. We use m = m, then



m.1 = m.1 because 1 is the identity under multiplication.



m.(1+0) = m.1 because 0 is the identity under addition.




Using the distributive property,



(m.1)+(m.0) = (m.1)



m +(m.0) = m



-m + m +(m.0) = -m + m (-m is the inverse of m under addition.)



(-m + m) +(m.0) = (-m + m), associative property.




0 +(m.0) = 0 because the definition of the identity under addition.



m.0 = 0 Q.E.D.


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