MATH 1240 Lab 0

The MATH 1240 Teaching Team

1 Introduction to Labs
1.1 What is a proof ?
In this course, in addition to learning about a number of topics from discrete mathematics, you
will be learning how to write a formal proof in mathematics. While obtaining the correct answer
to a problem is important, in this course, we will be placing a great emphasis on how well you
can explain your solution. Any time that you see the words “explain”, “prove”, “show”, . . . , it
means that a full and complete explanation of your solution is required. A “proof” is the word
that mathematicians use for this type of formal communication.
When writing a proof, you are trying to convince another person of the truth of certain state-
ments. Every line must be justifiable with reference to definitions and previously established
results. All “necessary” details must be included but the standard of detail depends a lot on the
audience. When writing for a student new to the material, many details are required and the only
ones that can be omitted are simple algebraic manipulations. When writing for research mathe-
maticians, many more details are often skipped. In this course, whenever you are writing a proof,
you should assume that your audience is one of your fellow classmates. Would another MATH
1240 student find your explanations and justifications convincing and complete?
A proof should stand on its own within the context of the audience – every variable that is
introduced must be clearly defined. The writing should be precise – make sure that everything
you write means precisely what it should.
There are many resources on mathematical writing and mathematical proofs (see for example,
[1, 3, 7, 8]). Some of these are listed in the references at the end of this document. These notes
were written based on the authors’ own experience and based on similar sets of notes for MATH
1240 in previous years [2, 4, 5].
Some brief guidelines:

1. Format: Every proof is a small essay and must have an introduction, body, and conclusion.
In the introduction, you define your variables and explain what you are proving, sometimes
with a description of the proof technique. The body of your proof is where all of the “proving”
happens. In the conclusion, you explain that you have shown what you said you were going
to prove. Make sure that in your writing, your sentences flow linearly from start to finish.

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 2. Grammar: A proof is a formal piece of writing and must follow rules of grammar and have
all words spelled correctly. Even lines that contain mathematical symbols must be complete
sentences. Try to read what you have written out loud and look out for missing verbs and
connective words. For example: “If x ≥ 3, then x2 + 1 ≥ 10.” is a complete sentence.

3. Work in one direction: If you want to prove that two things are equal (or less than,
greater than, . . . ), it is advised to write the sequence of equalities or inequalities as LHS
= · · · = · · · = RHS. Do not work on both sides of the identity or inequality you are trying
to prove at once. Doing so can lead to incorrect deductions.

4. Work in the direction you are meant to: Most proofs you will be writing will be proving
statements of the form “If a, then b.” When you write your proof, you will assume that a is
true and then show, using logic, arithmetic, algebraic manipulation, and/or previous results,
that b is true. Do not assume that b is true within your proof and try to use that fact.

5. Be careful about “Proof by example”: In a proof, you are trying to convince your
audience that a statement is always true. If the statement covers many different cases or
values, is not enough to show that it works in a few examples. For the flip side of this, if you
are trying to show that a statement is false, it is enough to find one example of a case where
is it false.

6. Double-check edge cases: If you use a formula or previous result, you need to make sure
that they actually apply in the case you using them. Some things to look out for include:
division by zero, taking the square root of a negative number, and applying formulas outside
the range where they are true.

7. Define all variables.

8. Use mathematical symbols correctly: When working informally, some people will use
mathematical symbols in place of closely related words. In a formal proof, make sure that
every symbol is used correctly. For example, the symbol “=” must only ever be used to
denote that two quantities or objects are equal.

9. Formal language: There is a class of formal words that are commonly used in mathematics
(and rarely in everyday speech). Learn the meanings of words like “therefore”, “hence”,
“since”, . . . and get used to using them correctly in your proof.

10. Balance symbol use: Mathematical symbols are to be used where appropriate, but do
not either overuse or underuse symbols. This a matter of personal preference and style, but
most mathematicians will agree on the extremes. Many students overuse the symbol ∴ in
place of the word “therefore” and the symbol ∵ for “since” or “because”. It is better to avoid
these and use the words instead.

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1.2 Purpose of Proof Activities in Labs
Often students’ experience of mathematics from secondary school (or some introductory university
courses) is that correctness in solutions for mathematical problems is simply a matter of doing
a calculation and getting the correct answer. For these types of problems, it can be enough to
develop competence by doing practice problems and comparing the final numeric answer to the
one in a solution manual. Proofs are different since the goal of a proof is not to get the correct
answer, but to have an explanation that can convince another person of the correctness of the
answer. Most people will have difficulty, especially when learning the concept of mathematical
proof for the first time, of spotting where their own proofs are unclear, use techniques incorrectly,
or contain mistakes. You know what you mean to say, but your reader may not. Feedback from
another person is crucial.
Based on this, we have designed a new activity to allow students to practice writing proofs, learn
to spot errors in proofs, and both give and receive feedback to improve their proof-writing skills.
Research (see, e.g. [6]) has shown that one of the best ways to improve ones mathematical writing
skills is to read, analyze, and correct proofs with significant errors (see [3, p. 332]). The rubric
in the following section is based on that in A Resource Bank for Writing Intensive Mathematics
Courses [3, p. 332].

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1.3 Basic Rubric for Mathematical Proofs
Rating Accomplished (2) Developing (1) Beginning (0)
Notation Variables are all defined; Variables are all defined;
Some variables and/or
all standard notation is few mistakes are madenew/non-standard are
used correctly; new nota- with standard notation;
not defined; consistent
tion is efficient and help- = is used correctly; for
mistakes are made with
ful example, may make mis-
standard notation, e.g.,
takes with notation Z instead of Z; = used
incorrectly
Language & Easy to read and under- Sometimes challenging to Arguments are unclear
Clarity stand arguments; con- read or understand ar- or confusing; contains
tains very few spelling guments, contains few many spelling and gram-
and grammar mistakes; spelling and grammar mar mistakes; overuse of
use of full sentences bal- mistakes; full sentences symbols and equations
anced well with equa- used to clarify equations instead of sentences
tions and symbols adding
to the clarity;
Logic Follows proof guidelines; Follows the proof guide- Contains false state-
connections between lines; most logical con- ments; begins with or
statements are clear; nections clear; few miss- assumes the conclusion;
quantifiers “for all”, ing/implied quantifiers; quantifiers “for all”,
“there exists” are present all assumptions and con- “there exists” used
and used correctly; easy clusion present incorrectly; hard to
to follow argument understand logical con-
nections
Completeness All necessary details are Few missing details; Many details are miss-
present; the assumptions most assumptions of ing; Theorems are used
of Theorems used are Theorems used are without checking as-
checked; nothing “obvi- checked; things called sumptions; uses words
ous” is left out “obvious” really are true like “obvious” to cover
and easy to check up missing details

For each individual proof-type, there will be an individualized rubric for the that proof that
incorporates many of the aspects of the rubric given here. As these are all different, they will be
described in their individual sections.

1.4 Instructions for Lab Activities

1. Read the sample solution in pre-lab assignment.

2. Read the details of the rubric for that type of problem.

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 3. Fill out the rubric for that problem and submit to Crowdmark by 11:59pm on the Sunday
before the lab.

During the Lab:

4. The Lab Demonstrator will facilitate a discussion with the entire lab about the problem,
sample solution and rubric.

5. Another proof attempt to the same problem and an assignment problem will be distributed.

6. In groups of 1 to 4 students:

• Discuss the rubric for the new proof attempt and create an evaluation for the new proof
attempt.
• Write a proof for the assignment problem, based on the rubric.

7. Submit evaluation and proof at the end of the lab.

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2 Pre-Lab 0 (No Credit)
The following is a practice lab assignment based on Pre-Calculus material. This is to give you an
idea of the format of the pre-labs in our course.
There are no marks associated with this assignment, but you are encouraged to complete and
submit it to get comfortable with the format and to test out the submission process.

2.1 Sample Proof

sec θ − sin2 θ sec θ

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 Evaluate this proof attempt based on the rubric in Section 1.3. Fill out the table on the next
page with your ratings and evaluation and submit it to Crowdmark by Sunday January 15 at
11:59pm. You will receive an email from Crowdmark with the link for submission.
Although the pre-lab 0 assignment will not be marked or worth credit toward our course, all
future pre-lab assignments will be marked and counted. You will be marked on the quality of your
evaluation of the proof attempt. In general, your rating and explanation of the rating of a
pre-lab proof attempt will be marked by the following scheme:

• Accomplished (2 pts)
Complete justifications for each rating. Ratings match the rubric and very few major issues
or proof flaws are missed.

• Developing (1 pt)
Mostly complete justifications for each rating. Many ratings match the rubric and some
major issues or proof flaws are missed.

• Beginning (0 pts)
Incomplete justifications for ratings. Ratings do not match the rubric or most major issues
or flaws are not identified.

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Evaluation of Introductory Lab Proof Attempt

Category Rating Explanation of rating

Language &
Clarity

Logic

Completeness

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References
[1] Ethan D. Bloch, Proofs and fundamentals. A first course in abstract mathe-
matics, Second edition, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics. Springer, New
York, 2011.
[2] Robert Borgersen, Learning how to write a proof, course notes, 18 June 2019.
[3] Laren DeDieu, Jerrod M. Smith, Kimberly Golubeva, and Christian Bagshaw,
A Resource Bank for Writing Intensive Mathematics Courses, Department
of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada, 18
May 2021, available at http://proof.ucalgaryblogs.ca, accessed 4 August
2022.
[4] David S. Gunderson, Mathematical induction notes for MATH 1240, W2018,
course notes, 31 January 2018.
[5] Karen Gunderson, Guidelines for mathematical writing, notes for MATH
1240, Fall 2020.
[6] A. Selden and J. Selden, Validations of Proofs Considered as Texts: Can
Undergraduates Tell Whether an Argument Proves a Theorem?. Journal for
Research in Mathematics Education, Vol. 34, No. 1 (2003), pp. 4–36. http:
//www.jstor.org/stable/30034698
[7] Agata Stefanowicz, Proofs and Mathematical Reasoning, University of
Birmingham, Mathematics Support Centre Guide, September 2014, available
at https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-eps/college/
stem/Student-Summer-Education-Internships/Proof-and-Reasoning.
pdf
[8] Ted Sundstrom, Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof, Version 3,
Open Educational Resource, available at https://www.tedsundstrom.com/
mathematical-reasoning-3, 1 August 2022.