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Counterexample

A counterexample is a specific case which shows that a general statement is false.

Example 1:

Provide a counterexample to show that the statement

"Every quadrilateral has at least two congruent sides"

is not always true.

Any scalene quadrilateral will serve as a counterexample.

For a conditional (if-then) statement, a counterexample must be an instance which satisfies the hypothesis , but not the conclusion .

Example 2:

Provide a counterexample to show that the statement

If p q = x , then p = x q

is not true for all real numbers p , q , and x .

Let p = 1 , q = 0 and x = 0 .

Then ( 1 ) ( 0 ) = 0 but 1 0 0 , since division by 0 is undefined.