Prove: Any postage of 24 or more can be constructed using 5 and 7 cent stamps. Use K and K+1 for the induction hypothesis.

tinfoQ

tinfoQ

Answered question

2021-08-01

Prove: Any postage of 24 or more can be constructed using 5 and 7 cent stamps.
Use K and K+1 for the induction hypothesis.

Answer & Explanation

2k1enyvp

2k1enyvp

Skilled2021-08-02Added 94 answers

Step 1
We will use discrete math and mathematical induction for proving the same.
Therefore, proof by induction:
Basic step: for n=24, 25, 26, 27 (showing explicitly), we have
24=2×5+2×7
25=5×5
26=1×5+3×7
27=4×5+1×7
Step 2
Assuming that the statement is true for all k such that
nk24
Then, for (n+1) cents:
if (n+1)5=n424, then by inductive assumption,
(n4) cents can be achieved by only 5 cents and 7 cents stamps, and hence, (n+1) cents can be achieved by using one extra 5 cent stamp as in (n4) cases.
[For better understanding of this, let us take an example. Let us assume that n=33. Now, (n+1)5=345=29 We can write 29 as 29=3×5+2×7 ]
If (n4)<24, then n must be one of the values that we have already proved in the basic step, i.e. 24, 25, 26, 27
Hence, the statement is true for all 24

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