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I think a lot of people don't think of math in terms of definitions and proof. Math was just something they were taught as kids. And even if they've gotten into
by pasquinelli 7y ago
I think a lot of people don't think of math in terms of definitions and proof. Math was just something they were taught as kids. And even if they've gotten into more advanced math, i think the 1 = .9... question hits their kindergarten brain and they just say "no" to it the same way they'd say "no" to someone singing the alphabet song in the wrong order.
- karatestomp 7y agoI think a lot of people see “find me a number between 0.9999... and 1” as no more or less valid (plus, perhaps, no more or less pedantic and dickish) than “ok smarty pants, why don’t you just keep adding 9s until you reach 1, then we’ll talk.”
- tom-thistime 7y agoI imagine that's true sometimes. On the other hand, hypothetically, if it were the case that we were missing a key definition that's needed for some proof, and someone didn't believe that proof, then maybe we would't quite know enough yet to decide that the person is in mental kindergarten. A better first step for us might be to supply the missing definition.