A method of proving statements about {well-ordered sets}. If S is a well-ordered set with ordering "<", and we want to show that a property P holds for every element of S, it is sufficient to show that, for all s in S, IF for all t in S, t < s => P(t) THEN P(s) I.e. if P holds for anything less than s then it holds for s. In this case we say P is proved by induction. The most common instance of proof by induction is induction over the natural numbers where we prove that some property holds for n=0 and that if it holds for n, it holds for n+1. (In fact it is sufficient for "<" to be a well-foundedpartial order on S, not necessarily a well-ordering of S.) (1999-12-09)
