4 ms·

I do understand it. In fact, I understand it quite well. I can give you the textbook definitions. I've studied them completely. I hold a Ph.D., you know. You ar

by KGIII 9y ago

I do understand it. In fact, I understand it quite well. I can give you the textbook definitions. I've studied them completely. I hold a Ph.D., you know. You are accepting rote still, as opposed to concerning yourself with the Philosophy of Mathematics. The ... represents an infinitely repeating numeral, does it not? It is a shorter way of writing 0.999999999999 (into infinity). Now, you can do that forever and you will never reach a whole number. Ever... Go ahead, try it. I'll wait. So, we've all happily agreed on some very contrived rules that you'll quote verbatim and gleefully declare to be basic mathematics and I the embarrassment. You'll commit no more thought to the process and, as I've already stated, that's a very good choice. (Karma for days...)

cgmg 9y ago
> Now, you can do that forever and you will never reach a whole number. Ever... Go ahead, try it. I'll wait. What in the world are you rambling about? Do you know what a limit is? > I hold a Ph.D., you know. Yeah, and I'm the king of France. If you really have a Ph.D., I'd wager it's not in mathematics, given the content of your posts.
- Simon_says 9y ago
  I, on the other hand, would bet KGIII's Ph.D. is in math. I have a Ph.D. in math, too, and I've met, shall we say, a wide variety of fellow Ph.D. holders.
- KGIII 9y ago
  You have given me one of the best chuckles I've had in weeks. Thanks! Err... If you really wanted, you could probably use a search engine and figure out who I am. I actually am a mathematician. But, you can keep your wager.
  - cgmg 9y ago
    > I actually am a mathematician. But you don't know what a limit is?
    - KGIII 9y ago
      Of course I do. It's rather contrived, now isn't it? We've effectively just said, 'Well, bugger it. We don't have to expand that.' We've all agreed it equals one. That's kind of silly. I can quote the rules, the reasons, and even helped to author the early versions of the Wikipedia article on the subject. I understand the textbooks, and they are silly. I haven't found the history of when this was discovered, so I have to speculate. I think it went a bit like this... Bob, that's his name, was smoking opium one day and pondering mathematics. On a hunch, he sat down at his desk and, between nods, he discovered that 0.999... = 1. This, of course, is absurd. After all, anyone would notice that the deception lies in the conversion to a fraction. But, we can't have that. Bob chose to keep it a secret. Except Bob was quite an opiate addict and only made it about a week before he started telling anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, so many people heard about it that the higher order of mathematicians decided they couldn't just assassinate Bob and, after all, he was right - and he could prove it! So, they thought long and hard. How could this be made true? How could this still be right and the order still be maintained? Eventually, a bright young neophyte named Hank piped up, 'Wait! I have it! Let's just imply a limit!' They all cheered and headed to the bar to buy Hank a round of drinks. Something like that. ;-) In an earlier comment you said you didn't have to expand it. You're right. You don't have to, but you can. There is no rule that prevents you from stepping up to the board and writing 9s until the heat death of the universe, only an imposition made to keep order. Kinda silly, isn't it? As I said above, mathematics is a language. You can say anything you want. Some of it is trivially proven false, though it is still useful.

by KGIII 9y ago

cgmg 9y ago

> Now, you can do that forever and you will never reach a whole number. Ever... Go ahead, try it. I'll wait. What in the world are you rambling about? Do you know what a limit is? > I hold a Ph.D., you know. Yeah, and I'm the king of France. If you really have a Ph.D., I'd wager it's not in mathematics, given the content of your posts.

Simon_says 9y ago
I, on the other hand, would bet KGIII's Ph.D. is in math. I have a Ph.D. in math, too, and I've met, shall we say, a wide variety of fellow Ph.D. holders.
KGIII 9y ago
You have given me one of the best chuckles I've had in weeks. Thanks! Err... If you really wanted, you could probably use a search engine and figure out who I am. I actually am a mathematician. But, you can keep your wager.
- cgmg 9y ago
  > I actually am a mathematician. But you don't know what a limit is?
  - KGIII 9y ago
    Of course I do. It's rather contrived, now isn't it? We've effectively just said, 'Well, bugger it. We don't have to expand that.' We've all agreed it equals one. That's kind of silly. I can quote the rules, the reasons, and even helped to author the early versions of the Wikipedia article on the subject. I understand the textbooks, and they are silly. I haven't found the history of when this was discovered, so I have to speculate. I think it went a bit like this... Bob, that's his name, was smoking opium one day and pondering mathematics. On a hunch, he sat down at his desk and, between nods, he discovered that 0.999... = 1. This, of course, is absurd. After all, anyone would notice that the deception lies in the conversion to a fraction. But, we can't have that. Bob chose to keep it a secret. Except Bob was quite an opiate addict and only made it about a week before he started telling anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, so many people heard about it that the higher order of mathematicians decided they couldn't just assassinate Bob and, after all, he was right - and he could prove it! So, they thought long and hard. How could this be made true? How could this still be right and the order still be maintained? Eventually, a bright young neophyte named Hank piped up, 'Wait! I have it! Let's just imply a limit!' They all cheered and headed to the bar to buy Hank a round of drinks. Something like that. ;-) In an earlier comment you said you didn't have to expand it. You're right. You don't have to, but you can. There is no rule that prevents you from stepping up to the board and writing 9s until the heat death of the universe, only an imposition made to keep order. Kinda silly, isn't it? As I said above, mathematics is a language. You can say anything you want. Some of it is trivially proven false, though it is still useful.