3 ms·
Are you suggesting that time extends infinitely into the past? Because if it doesn't, there will never be an infinite amount of time, so there won't be any poin
by dskloet 10y ago
Are you suggesting that time extends infinitely into the past? Because if it doesn't, there will never be an infinite amount of time, so there won't be any point in time when this -1/12 becomes relevant to physics in this sense.
> I guess my point is more that for a mathematician it would probably be obvious that when you talk about the limit of a divergent series it could be any imaginary or intermediary value.
I'm a mathematician and I might agree (not entirely sure what you mean). But -1/12 is a concrete value so it doesn't apply here.
- jjnoakes 10y agoWhy can't time begin at a point in the past, but extend infinitely into the future?
- tinco 10y agoWell it might, but in what calculation would the fact that time extends infinitely be a factor? You can say all past time resulted in the current moment, but as far as I know there's no such thing flowing from the future into now. So any physics calculation you do will deal with finite amounts of time.
- jjnoakes 10y agoI won't pretend to know every possible calculation that might be desired, but I can imagine any sort of prediction or simulation about the future may want to use such an infinite view of time going forward.