Ryandor.com

Random revelation:

1/3 is ABOUT 0.333... NOT EQUAL!

I was reading some math and physics forums (denno why), and they were debating this:

1/3 = 0.333...
3(1/3) = 3(0.333...)
1 = 0.999...

?

All those scientist-types got into endless debates and proofs? but it all seems very simple to me: 0.333... comes infinitely close to 1/3rd, but can never reach it. Simple.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

Ahh... true... to an extent. The technical representation is 0.3 with a bar over the three. That is exactly 1/3. Now multiply that by 3. You get 0.9(bar), which equals 1. It seems strange, but think about it. 1 minus 0.9 is 0.1. 1 minus 0.99 is 0.01. 1 minus 0.999 is 0.001. Carry this through to an infinite number of nines (what the bar notation means) and you have a difference of 0.(infinite zeroes)1, but you can't have anything after an infinite line of zeroes...

As a physicist, I run into stuff like this all the time. It's not a limit of the notation, it's a limit of the human thought process. We can't understand an "infinite" object, so we just assume it ends somewhere, but it doesn't. Sounds almost religious, doesn't it?

Yeah, I figured it out. It is, basically, just a limit.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

Yeah, and limits suck...

Dont put me in that "We" catagory, I understand infinity just fine.

To explain it to someone who does not understand it you need to break it down into simple terms such as the following:

"Infinity is equal to making the minimum payment on your 29.5% credit card bill...Infinity is how long it will take to pay it off."

See its actually quite simple to grasp such an elementary concept after all.

Dev

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"So...if crazy people don't know their crazy...does that mean your only sane if your know your crazy?"

LOL
Good one Vip

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This space for rent.

True, credit cards can make the concept of infinity quite accessible... I always forget that one