The aim of proof by contradiction is to prove a statement is true by assuming it is false and showing that this leads to a contradiction so that the statement must be true. This is often easier than proving the statement directly.

For example consider the proof √2 is irrational that follows

Assume root 2 is rational, ie that it can be written as r/s where s≠0 and r and s are both integers. We can choose r and s such that they have no common factors, since any common factors can be cancelled out.

then 2=r²/s²
so r² = 2s² —(1)
hence 2 is a factor of r² and since 2 is prime 2 must also be a factor of r so we can write r = 2k where k is an integer.

From (1) we can now write
4k²=2s²
so s = 2k²
so 2 is also a factor of s
But we assumed r and s had no common factors, Contradiction therefore root 2 must be irrational.

So to conclude, here we have taken the statement root 2 is irrational, assumed it to be false, shown this leads to a contradiction and therefore concluded that root 2 must be irrational.