written by Armen H. Zemanian, published in The Physics Teacher, May 1994.

The usual techniques for proving things are often inadequate because they are merely concerned with truth. For more practical objectives, there are other powerful - but generally unacknowledged - methods. Here is an (undoubtedly incomplete) list of them:

Proof of Blatant Assertion:

Use words and phrases like "clearly...,""obviously...,""it is easily shown that...," and "as any fool can plainly see..."

Proof by Seduction:

"If you will just agree to believe this, you might get a better final grade."

Proof by Intimidation:

"You better believe this if you want to pass the course."

Proof by Interruption:

Keep interrupting until your opponent gives up.

Proof by Misconception:

An example of this is the Freshman's Conception of the Limit Process: "2 equals 3 for large values of 2." Once introduced, any conclusion is reachable.

Proof by Obfuscation:

A long list of lemmas is helpful in this case - the more, the better.

Proof by Confusion:

This is a more refined form of proof by obfuscation. The long list of lemmas should be arranged into circular patterns of reasoning - and perhaps more baroque structures such as figure-eights and fleurs-de-lis.

Proof by Exhaustion:

This is a modification of an inductive proof. Instead of going to the general case after proving the first one, prove the second case, then the third, then the fourth, and so on - until a sufficiently large n is achieved whereby the nth case is being propounded to a soundly sleeping audience.

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References: I don't have any.