Disprove 0=1

Algebra Level 3

Someone has claimed that they proved that 0=1! Of course, they must have made a mistake somewhere. Which step below contains their first mistake?

a + b = 1 ( a + b ) 2 = 1 a ( a + b ) + b ( a + b ) = 1 a 2 + b 2 + 2 a b = 1 a 2 + b 2 + 2 a b = a + b a 2 + b 2 + 2 a b ( a + b ) = a + b ( a + b ) a 2 + a b a + b 2 + a b b = 0 a ( a + b 1 ) + b ( b + a 1 ) = 0 ( a + b ) ( a + b 1 ) = 0 a + b = 0 a + b 1 = 0 1 = 0 a+b=1\\ { (a+b) }^{ 2 }={ 1 }\\ a{ (a+b) }+b{ (a+b) }={ 1 }\\ { a }^{ 2 }+{ b }^{ 2 }+2ab=1\\ { a }^{ 2 }+{ b }^{ 2 }+2ab=a+b\\ { a }^{ 2 }+{ b }^{ 2 }+2ab-(a+b)=a+b-(a+b)\\ { a }^{ 2 }+ab-a+{ b }^{ 2 }+ab-b=0\\ a(a+b-1)+b(b+a-1)=0\\ (a+b)(a+b-1)=0\\ a+b=0\\ a+b-1=0\\ 1=0

10 4 8 7 5 2 9 11

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1 solution

Louis Ullman
Feb 20, 2018

Starting from step 9 (remember that a + b = 1 a+b=1 )...

( a + b ) ( a + b 1 ) = 0 ( a + b ) ( ( 1 ) 1 ) = 0 ( a + b ) ( 0 ) = 0 ( a + b ) ( 0 ) 0 = 0 0 a + b = 0 (a+b)(a+b-1)=0\\ (a+b)((1)-1)=0\\ (a+b)(0)=0\\ \frac { (a+b)(0) }{ 0 } =\frac { 0 }{ 0 } \\ a+b=0

This means that step 10 divides both sides by zero. Therefore, step 10 \boxed { 10 } contains the mistake.

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