Common Proof Techniques  
 
Proof by Example:
    The author gives only the case n = 2 and suggests that it contains most of the ideas of the general proof.
 
Proof by Intimidation:
    'Trivial.'
 
Proof by Vigorous Handwaving:
    Works well in a classroom or seminar setting.
 
Proof by Cumbersome Notation:
    Best done with access to at least four alphabets and special symbols.
 
Proof by Exhaustion:
    An issue or two of a journal devoted to your proof is useful.
 
Proof by Omission:
    'The reader may easily supply the details.'
    'The other 253 cases are analogous.'
    '...'
 
Proof by Obfuscation:
    A long plotless sequence of true and/or meaningless syntactically related statements.
 
Proof by Wishful Citation:
    The author cites the negation, converse, or generalization of a theorem from literature to support his claims.
 
Proof by Funding:
    How could three different government agencies be wrong?
 
Proof by Eminent Authority:
    'I saw Karp in the elevator and he said it was probably NP-complete.'
 
Proof by Personal Communication:
    'Eight-dimensional colored cycle stripping is NP-complete [Karp, personal communication].'
 
Proof by Reduction to the Wrong Problem:
    'To see that infinite-dimensional colored cycle stripping is decidable, we reduce it to the halting problem.'
 
Proof by Reference to Inaccessible Literature:
    The author cites a simple corollary of a theorem to be found in a privately circulated memoir of the Slovenian Philological Society, 1883.
 
Proof by Importance:
    A large body of useful consequences all follow from the proposition in question.
 
Proof by Accumulated Evidence:
    Long and diligent search has not revealed a counterexample.
 
Proof by Cosmology:
    The negation of the proposition is unimaginable or meaningless.
    Popular for proofs of the existence of God.
 
Proof by Mutual Reference:
    In reference A, Theorem 5 is said to follow from Theorem 3 in reference B, which is shown from Corollary 6.2 in reference C, which is an easy consequence of Theorem 5 in reference A.
 
Proof by Metaproof:
    A method is given to construct the desired proof. The correctness of the method is proved by any of these techniques.
 
Proof by Picture:
    A more convincing form of proof by example. Combines well with proof by omission.
 
Proof by Vehement Assertion:
    It is useful to have some kind of authority in relation to the audience.
 
Proof by Ghost Reference:
    Nothing even remotely resembling the cited theorem appears in the reference given.
 
Proof by Forward Reference:
    Reference is usually to a forthcoming paper of the author, which is often not as forthcoming as at first.
 
Proof by Semantic Shift:
    Some standard but inconvenient definitions are changed for the statement of the result.
 
Proof by Appeal to Intuition:
    Cloud-shaped drawings frequently help here.
 
 
       The above 24 techniques are by Richard Green (I think).
 

 
Proof by Miracle:

 
    Since I have a counter, I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU: 
 
    Back to my Mathematics-page.
 
    Back to my Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Homepage.