In
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, a toy theorem is a simplified instance (
special case) of a more general
theorem
In mathematics and formal logic, a theorem is a statement (logic), statement that has been Mathematical proof, proven, or can be proven. The ''proof'' of a theorem is a logical argument that uses the inference rules of a deductive system to esta ...
, which can be useful in providing a handy representation of the general theorem, or a framework for proving the general theorem. One way of obtaining a toy theorem is by introducing some simplifying assumptions in a theorem.
In many cases, a toy theorem is used to illustrate the claim of a theorem, while in other cases, studying the
proofs of a toy theorem (derived from a non-trivial theorem) can provide insight that would be hard to obtain otherwise.
Toy theorems can also have educational value as well. For example, after presenting a theorem (with, say, a highly non-trivial proof), one can sometimes give some assurance that the theorem really holds, by proving a toy version of the theorem.
Examples
A toy theorem of the
Brouwer fixed-point theorem is obtained by restricting the
dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coo ...
to one. In this case, the Brouwer fixed-point theorem follows almost immediately from the
intermediate value theorem
In mathematical analysis, the intermediate value theorem states that if f is a continuous function whose domain contains the interval , then it takes on any given value between f(a) and f(b) at some point within the interval.
This has two imp ...
.
Another example of toy theorem is
Rolle's theorem, which is obtained from the
mean value theorem
In mathematics, the mean value theorem (or Lagrange's mean value theorem) states, roughly, that for a given planar arc (geometry), arc between two endpoints, there is at least one point at which the tangent to the arc is parallel to the secant lin ...
by equating the
function values at the endpoints.
See also
*
Corollary
In mathematics and logic, a corollary ( , ) is a theorem of less importance which can be readily deduced from a previous, more notable statement. A corollary could, for instance, be a proposition which is incidentally proved while proving another ...
*
Fundamental theorem
*
Lemma (mathematics)
In mathematics and other fields, a lemma (: lemmas or lemmata) is a generally minor, proven Theorem#Terminology, proposition which is used to prove a larger statement. For that reason, it is also known as a "helping theorem" or an "auxiliary theo ...
*
Toy model
References
{{PlanetMath attribution, id=4684, title=toy theorem
Mathematical theorems
Mathematical terminology