I'm trying to prove by induction that for all $a,b \in \mathbb{Z}$ and $n \in \mathbb{N}$, that $(a-b) \mid (a^n-b^n)$. The base case was trivial, so I started by assuming that $(a-b) \mid (a^n-b^n)$. But I found that: \begin{align*} (a-b)(a^{n-1}+a^{n-2}b + a^{n-3}b^2+...+b^{n-1}) &amp;= a^n-b^n. \end{align*}  Doesn't this imply that $(a-b) \mid (a^n-b^n)$ as $a^{n-1}+a^{n-2}b+\dots+b^{n-1}$ is clearly an integer? This obviously isn't a proof by induction, but is there anything wrong with taking this approach to prove this result, other than the fact that it isn't what is being asked?   Aside, I'm having trouble getting started with the proof by induction. I've tried making the above equivalence useful during the induction step, but it doesn't seem to be helpful, so any hints would be greatly appreciated!
I did some mathematical induction problems on divisibility   $9^n$ $-$ $2^n$ is divisible by 7. $4^n$ $-$ $1$ is divisible by 3. $9^n$ $-$ $4^n$ is divisible by 5.   Can these be generalized as $a^n$ $-$ $b^n$$ = (a-b)N$, where N is an integer? But why is $a^n$ $-$ $b^n$$ = (a-b)N$ ?  I also see that $6^n$ $- 5n + 4$ is divisible by $5$ which is $6-5+4$ and $7^n$$+3n + 8$ is divisible by $9$ which is $7+3+8=18=9\cdot2$.  Are they just a coincidence or is there a theory behind?  Is it about modular arithmetic?
"Please ask a new question" encourages question repetition for duplicates I just had a case of a user who re-posted his question because his first question was closed as a duplicate. And, logically, I closed his re-post as a duplicate of his original, asking him to edit his original and explain why it's not a duplicate, so we can reopen it.  This process has worked like that for years now, but suddenly I realized that with the new message, question repetition is even encouraged:     This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.   Clearly, a new user who finds their questions closed will now be happy to just post their question again and again, until it's not a duplicate anymore, instead of just fixing their original post.  We need to be more explicit about this, and show this message to the OP of the question:     If those answers do not fully address your question, please edit your question and explain why it is not a duplicate.   The original message should still be visible to other users and visitors, as they can't fix that question, of course. Making Map Book of pages with same area shown but different layers turned on/off In ArcMap a Map Book is best suited for a series of features that each get their own page. It allows you to pick a feature and generate a Map Book Page for each feature including any additional information you wish to add to each page via dynamic text, charts, etc. Is there an alternative for say a series of pages showing the EXACT same area but with different layers turned on and off? We have a Capital Improvements document that I have to create showing the City Boundaries on every page. One page has all police and fire stations listed, another shows proposed water systems, another shows expressways and highways and work being done near or on them... etc., ad nauseum. Is there some way to set this up so that I DON'T have to created a separate MXD for each Map Page of this document? What is the best time to ask questions? I've never really got how chmod worked up until today. I followed a tutorial that explained a big deal to me.   For example, I've read that you've got three different permission groups:   owner (u) group (g) everyone (o)   Based on these three groups, I now know that:   If the file is owned by the user, the user permissions determine the access. If the group of the file is the same as the user's group, the group permission determine the access. If the user is not the file owner, and is not in the group, then the other permission is used.   I've also learned that you've got the following permissions:   read (r) write (w) execute (x)   I created a directory to test my newly acquired knowledge:  mkdir test   Then I did some tests:  chmod u+rwx test/ # drwx------ chmod g+rx test/ # drwxr-x--- chmod u-x test/ # drw-r-x---   After fooling around for some time I think I finally got the hang of chmod and the way you set permission using this command.    But...  I still have a few questions:   What does the d at the start stand for? What's the name and use of the containing slot and what other values can it hold? How can I set and unset it? What is the value for this d? (As you only have 7=4+2+1 7=4+2+1 7=4+2+1) Why do people sometimes use 0777 instead of 777 to set their permissions?   But as I shouldn't be asking multiple questions, I'll try to ask it in one question.  In UNIX based system such as all Linux distributions, concerning the permissions, what does the first part (d) stand for and what's the use for this part of the permissions? I have a LaTeX editing environment that does some assistive stuff such as auto-indenting, closing parentheses, etc.  However, one of the things that it does is unknown to me, and is difficult to search for. If I type an empty set of braces, it replaces them with  {}&lt;++&gt;   If I type two empty sets, for example when I'm setting up a fraction \frac{}{} what I actually get is  \frac\left\{ } \right\}&lt;++&gt;}&lt;++&gt;   Is this a problem? What does &lt;++&gt; do?  Edit: This is using Errors in matrix equation? I'm getting errors in a matrix equation. When I compile it looks fine, but I'd like to fix them so I don't have to press return for every error at compile time. The code for the equation is:  \begin{equation*}  \begin{bmatrix} U(1,t)  &amp; \cdots &amp; U(n,t) \\  \vdots &amp; \ddots &amp; \vdots \\ O_{n1} &amp; \cdots &amp; O_{nn}  \end{bmatrix} \times \begin{bmatrix} W(1,1)  &amp; \cdots &amp; W(1,n) \\  \vdots &amp; \ddots &amp; \vdots \\  W(n,1) &amp; \cdots &amp; W(n,n)  \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix}  D(1,t)  &amp; \cdots &amp; D(n,t) \\ \vdots &amp; \ddots &amp; \vdots \\ I_{n1} &amp; \cdots &amp; I_{nn} \end{bmatrix}  \end{equation*}   The errors I'm getting are related to missing $'s inserted. Implement ```-style (fenced) Markdown code blocks Currently, Stack Exchange’s Markdown parser only allows four-space indents to represent code blocks:      // some code     // another line of code    and other Markdown implementations allow for an alternative syntax, that doesn’t require indenting each code line:  ``` // some code // another line of code ```   This is much more convenient to type out. It would be super useful if Stack Exchange could support this syntax.    By extension, this syntax also allow you to specify the source language right after the opening ```:  ```js // some code // another line of code ```   …which would then enable syntax highlighting for that specific language. Although it’s interesting metadata, I don’t think this feature is needed on Stack Overflow, as the syntax highlighting library works pretty well for various languages.  So, even if you would allow this syntax but ignore the ```language, this would greatly improve my productivity on Stack Exchange.  What do you think?  The moderators are currently collecting feedback regarding this feature, so please post a comment with your thoughts. Good idea? Bad idea? Don’t really care? What do you think are the benefits/drawbacks? Experiences? Let them know! Thanks! How can I play Pokémon GO without Internet? I downloaded Pokémon GO on my Samsung Galaxy Express and I can play it at home, but when I go outside I can't play because there is no Internet.  How can I play Pokémon GO without Internet outside? The PS4 is now released in the EU, but due to shipment shortages is not available for sale unless pre-ordered a long time ago. Luckily, it seems as though Dualshock 4 controllers are availble for sale in a number of shops already.  I've long decided to buy the PS4 as well as a second Dualshock 4 controller, so I've been considering buying the "second" controller now in order to replace my old Xbox 360 controller, whose D-Pad is useless and whose RB button no longer responds correctly. But before I buy the Dualshock 4 early, I wanted to know how well my PC will support it.  I already know that , but what exactly does work, and what doesn't?  Can I expect the same key-mapping on the PC as on a PS4?  Basically, can I replace my Xbox 360 controller with a Dualshock 4 and still play games like Batman Arkham Asylum/City/Origins as if I were using the old Xbox 360 controller? What is special about square numbers here? Design Review: 3.3V Logic to 12V Logic (Uni-directional and Bi-directional) I'm looking for feedback and improvements on my design below. Specific questions are at the end. I created this as an attempt to answer my own, . From my feedback there, it seems like I needed to be more clear in my requirements. These are screenshots from Eagle. If there's a better way to share, please let me know so I can correct it. Entire board  The overall purpose of this board is to translate between 12V logic, and 3.3V logic. The top portion of the board represents the 12V side. The LEDs are placeholders to indicate whether the 12V signal is HIGH or LOW. In practice, these would be replaced with more , requiring up to 3A. The switches are also placeholders, allowing one to manually turn the 12V signal on and off. They are only for test purposes, the &quot;real&quot; 12V signal would be coming as the output from other relays. The bottom half is the 3.3V side. This will be connected to a  (BBB). The board will connect to 2 output GPIO pins and 2 input GPIO pins of the BBB. Overall, I want to translate the 3.3V I/O from the BBB to the 12V signals on the other side (to control more relays and read their signals). I have designed 3 modules to control both directions individually, and together. 3V3_TO_12V Module  This module converts the 3.3V GPIO output from the BBB to a 12V signal on the other side. When the 3.3V signal is low, the 12V signal is low. When the 3.3V signal is high, the 12V signal is high. To do this, the 3.3V GPIO output is connect to a , which turns a  relay on and off. This switches the 12V power as output of the module to be used elsewhere. 12V_TO_3V3 Module  This module converts a 12V signal to 3.3V signal, to be read by a GPIO input from the BBB on the other side. When the 12V signal is low, the 3.3V signal is low. When the 12V signal is high, the 3.3V signal is high. To do this, the 12V signal simply turns a  relay on and off. This switches the 3.3V power to be read as input by the BBB. DUAL_12V↔3V3 Module  This module combines the previous two modules to create a bidirectional translation. If the 12V side is high, the 3.3V input to the BBB GPIO should be high. If the 3.3V output from the BBB GPIO is high, then the 12V side should be high too. It's similar to a logical OR, if either side is high, the corresponding signal on the other side should be high too. A single 12V signal has to be split into individual input and output signals on the 3.3V side for the BBB. Questions  Is the  and  relay combination overkill for having the BBB GPIO output control the 12V power line? I like the isolation and safety it provides, but it seems too much (in terms of cost and board space) Is there a better solution for the 12V to 3.3V conversion. I like the simplicity of the  relay switching a 3.3V signal, but it takes up lots of room. Does the DUAL_12V↔3V3 Module (which combines each translation direction) even make sense? This seems wasteful to use 2 relays and a high side driver, but I haven't found simpler solution that achieves the same result. Should I add pulldown resistors for the BBB GPIO inputs, or are the internal pulldown resistors good enough?  Any other feedback is welcome. I'm new to electronic design. When I create beamer frame, the content is centred in the slide. How do I make the content move to the top of the slide by default? Let $f_n = \mathbb 1_{[-n,n]}$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$   Compute explicitly $f_n \star f_1$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$.  Show that $f_n \star f_1$ is the Fourier transform of $g_n = \frac{  \sin{(2\pi x)} \sin{(2 \pi nx)}}{\pi ^2 x^2}$  Show that $\| g_n \|_1 \to \infty$  Deduce that the Fourier transform is not surjective from $\mathcal{L}^1(\mathbb{R})$ to $C_0( \mathbb{R})$    Here, $C_0(\mathbb{R})$ is the space of continuous functions $f : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ that tends to $0$ at $-\infty$ and $+\infty$. I managed to compute 1) and proved 2). But I don't know how to prove 3). Moreover, I don't see how can 1), 2) and 3) prove 4). Can anyone help? Proof that an integral domain that is a finite-dimensional $F$-vector space is in fact a field This is a minor frustration, but I have a  that I put italics and bold into (using asterisks.)  Now I know I just just be happy that I could do it at all, but it seems to me that those should not count toward my comment char limit. Display only the penultimate (second last) row of a text How to represent it with UNIQUE indexes and foreign keys? I have data in an Excel file that I want to join with a shapefile in my project. The Excel file contains values like volumes. The Excel file and the shapefile I want to join it with both contain the same property names.  The problem is, when I join the two, I get too many decimals in the attribute table. I get six, but I only want it to be one.  I tested to change the format of the cells to one decimal, and then I saved the file as *csv. But, somehow I seem to loose data in the process? It should be 42 rows that contains data in the column i am working with, but I end up with only like 10?  Another thing is that my property names contains the letters Å. Ä and Ö, perhaps this complicates things?  I read the question , but it doesn't mention the problem with the data loss.  My question was tagged with , but I didn't write what version I'm using. I use QGIS 2.2.0. Would it help to upgrade to the latest version? Using maxTimeMS parameter with aggregation queries on Mongo 2.6 and Pymongo 2.7.1 Tracking disk I/O by application in Windows?