nobhdy said:

seuss

.3333(infinity) does not equal 1/3, but is merely an approximation. it ends somewhere.


think of it this way, if you take a peice of paper and somehow manage to rip into (infinity) peices, and you toook one away, it would no longer be 100% of that peice of paper.

please dont try to belittle my intelligence as its not a very profesional way to go about persuading anybody that you are right, nor will it keep this topic ON topic.


also, like the 4-d cube;)

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OJK said:

If 0.333[repeating] is simply the nearest decimal approximation of 1/3, then surely 0.999[repeating] can't be the nearest decimal approximation of 1/1, as 0.999[repeating] is three times further away from 1/1 as 0.333[repeating] is from 1/3?


If the nearest decimal expressible value to 1/3 is 0.333[repeating], and we multiply it by three, then the "difference" between 0.333[repeating] and 1/3 is three times greater between 0.999[repeating] and 1/1.

How can you acount for the "difference" being bigger between 0.999[repeating] and 1, than between 0.333[repeating] and 1/3 ?

Curse you, base 10!

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i understood this!  except the part about base 10.  this is fun, i haven't had such an intelligent conversation in years, its entertaining to go back and read it again.  oh and i totally believed everything i said when i said it. 

i feel like if i finally figure this out, my head will split in two and i'll arrive in heaven

i think the whole 1/3 = .333 repeating is accepted as true as a utility.  it works in the "world" for "practical purposes," but

.999999999....99999999 repeating, by its very definition, the 9's never end.  you keep adding and adding 9's, and theres ALWAYS ROOM FOR MORE.  so how could you say, "ok, thats close enough", we've reached 1.

you cant, because you've gotta sit there and add nines till kingdom comes because of your laziness and debauchery and thats good punishment.    again, this assumption (.9repeating=1) works for practical purposes, but its not entirely TRUE.  and like it says in the bible, the truth shall set you free, the TRUTH: not a nice right angle on a skyscraper, or whatever this beautiful stuff is used for these days

mystical mathmatics.  math that has no practical purpose (on the physical plane), but which can be so trippy that you don't care

sleepy said:

so i'm wondering what to study in school (if anything at all) and was wondering if i should do math because this is so much fun.  or maybe philosophy.  i doubt if the prof would let us debate something this far, he'd just say, .9999infinity is 1, now shutup youngling

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Diploid said:

So one could say... 1 does not equal .9999 {infinity} and still be correct because numbers could be anything to any being anywhere.

In math, you can say anything you want, but some statements (like 1 is not equal to .999 repeating) have consequences in other areas of math that cause the whole thing to stop representing the observed world.

You can say that 2 + 1 = 5, and you can even invent huge mathematical constructs based on that. But when you go grocery shopping and put 2 apples in your basket, then you add 1 apple, your basket will always end up containing 3 apples, not 5.

You can do this at the grocery store down the street or in another galaxy, in English or Chinese. It doesn't matter: you will always end up with 3 apples in your basket, not 5.

Same goes for 1 = .999 repeating. You can say it's not true all you like, but later when you start to study math at a deeper level than third grade intuition about arithmetic, you will find all of math that is so useful and consistent, and that so well represents reality will stop working.

You guys may not see this now, but a few weeks into your first calculus class, you will. 

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even on opposite day negative 2 apples + negative 1 apple will NEVER = negative 5 apples...

see?