Viz: Proof by Successive Contraindication

Begin the proof in front of a large attentive audience. Listen to the audience reaction as you transcribe the proof onto the black- or whiteboard. Whenever the audience makes contraindicative noises above a predefined threshold, roll back the proof to the point where the noises began, and proceed in a slightly different direction from there. Repeat as necessary, until the concluding point of the proof is reached, or a Socratic Pedagogic Deficit [Cf.] is about to occur. If you detect that an SPD is about to occur, leave the remainder of the proof to the audience as an exercise.

Socratic Pedagogic Deficit: In a lesson taught by the Socratic Method, the amount by which the positive pedagogic value of leaving the “real” answers ambiguous is exceeded by the confusion caused by leaving them ambiguous.