How to make coq simplify expressions inside an implication hypothesis

Im trying to prove the following lemma:

Inductive even : nat → Prop :=
| ev_0 : even 0
| ev_SS (n : nat) (H : even n) : even (S (S n)).

Lemma even_Sn_not_even_n : forall n,
    even (S n) <-> not (even n).
Proof.
  intros n. split.
  + intros H. unfold not. intros H1. induction H1 as [|n' E' IHn].
    - inversion H.
    - inversion_clear H. apply IHn in H0. apply H0.
  + unfold not. intros H. induction n as [|n' E' IHn].
    -
Qed.

Here is what I got at the end:

1 subgoal (ID 173)

H : even 0 -> False
============================
even 1

I want coq to evaluate "even 0" to true and "even 1" to false. I tried simpl, apply ev_0 in H. but they give an error. What to do?

Solution

Answer to the title

simpl in H.

Real answer

The above code will not work.

The definition of even from the Logical Foundations book is:

Inductive even : nat → Prop :=
| ev_0 : even 0
| ev_SS (n : nat) (H : even n) : even (S (S n)).

even 0 is a Prop, not a bool. Looks like you're mixing up the types True and False and the booleans true and false. They're totally different things, and not interchangeable under Coq's logic. In short, even 0 does not simplify to true or True or anything. It is just even 0. If you want to show even 0 is logically true, you should construct a value of that type.

I don't remember which tactics are available at that point in LF, but here are some possibilities:

(* Since you know `ev_0` is a value of type `even 0`,
   construct `False` from H and destruct it.
   This is an example of forward proof. *)
set (contra := H ev_0). destruct contra.

(* ... or, in one step: *)
destruct (H ev_0).

(* We all know `even 1` is logically false,
   so change the goal to `False` and work from there.
   This is an example of backward proof. *)
exfalso. apply H. apply ev_0.