3 unit HSC Q's by topic, bottom of the Extension 1 resources pagedwarven said:hey all
if you have any induction questions can you upload them to the net plz?
will be appriciated =]
3unitz said:prove, using mathematical induction, that the total number of diagonals in an n-sided polygon is given by n(n - 3)/2
thnx =]vds700 said:3 unit HSC Q's by topic, bottom of the Extension 1 resources page
3unitz said:prove, using mathematical induction, that the total number of diagonals in an n-sided polygon is given by n(n - 3)/2
thnxxTrebla said:Try this...
Good answerlolokay said:a triangle has 0 diagonals, so it's true for n = 3
with the addition of an extra vertex to the polygon, you can make n-2 diagonals from it (every previous point except adjacent ones) plus 1 extra being made by the 2 points adjacent to it - so a total of n - 1 new diagonals
[n(n-3) + 2n - 2]/2
= [n^2 - n - 2]/2
= (n+1)(n+1-3)/2
so if it is true for n it is true for n+1, and it is true for n=3 so it is true for all polygons