Proof (mathematics)

From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

In mathematics, a proof of a statement (called theorem, proposition, lemma, etc. according to the context and its importance) is a series of arguments which show that the assumptions of the statement imply its conclusion. Besides the assumptions listed explicitely in the statement to be proven, the arguments — which have to be based on inference rules of mathematical logic — may use the axioms of the theory and previously proven statements.