How to prove that $2^{n-1}=1+1+2+4+\dotsb+2^{n-2}$ for $n>1$? This is a claim in a textbook that I'm using, although it was not proven.
When trying this for small $n$'s it is clear.
\begin{align}
2^2&=1+1+2^1=4\\
2^3&=1+1+2+2^2\\
2^4&=1+1+2+4+2^3
\end{align}
What I was thinking for the proof was $2^{n-1}=2(2^{n-2})=2^{n-2}+2^{n-2}$, but obviously that's not incorporating addition, so I don't know where to go on. Is it just expressing $2^{n-2}$ as the first summation?

What you suggest basically seems to work - I'm going to change the leading value into $n$ rather than $n-1$ for ease of reading:
First, $2^1 = 1+1$ and $2^2 = 1+1+2 = 1+2^0+2^1$
Then using induction, assuming that the summation holds for lower $n$, we can use your observation $2^n = 2^{n-1} + 2^{n-1}$ and change the first $2^{n-1}$ into the summation form, giving  $2^{n} = 1+1 + 2 + \cdots + 2^{n-2} + 2^{n-1}$ as required.
