4 ms·
There are variations of this style of proof the shows all horses have an infinite number of legs, since horses must have an even number of legs to stand, yet th
by wombatpm 5y ago
There are variations of this style of proof the shows all horses have an infinite number of legs, since horses must have an even number of legs to stand, yet they have two legs in back and forelegs in front, giving them six legs which is an odd number of legs for a horse. The only number that is even and odd is infinity, hence horses have an infinite number of legs.
There is also lemma that since Alexander the Great rode a Black horse, he did not exist, but if he did exist he would have an infinite number of arms and legs
- pests 5y agoI don't understand. How is that six legs? How is that an odd number? Am I missing a joke?
- ars 5y agoforelegs means "front legs", but also sounds like "four legs". "odd number" means "strange number", and also "number not divisible by 2".
- james_in_the_uk 5y agoSix legs on a horse would be very odd indeed
- pfdietz 5y agoThe situation could be much worse. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/05/26/the-unhorse https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/05/26/the-unhorse
- cl42 5y agoWow, I can't believe Penny Arcade is still publishing comics. What a run!
- GhettoComputers 5y agoThey have an expo too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAX_(event) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAX_(event)
- allannienhuis 5y agofourlegs
- erulabs 5y agoYes, it's an English language joke: Two legs in back, and "forelegs" in front (four-legs). 2 + 4 = 6, which is a peculiar (aka odd) number of legs for a horse to have. Thus horses have both odd and even number of legs, meaning horses have infinite legs.
- pfdietz 5y agoActually, the argument was that Alexander the Great had an infinite number of arms. You see, in a famous battle he was forewarned. And as we all know, forewarned is four armed. The rest of the argument is similar.
- selimthegrim 5y agoIf this wasn't in Mathematics Made Difficult it should be
- pests 5y agoHoly moly did I miss the joke I'm a complete native and fluent English speaker for 30+ years. Thank you for the explanation - I know others here may need it but, and in all kindness, I'm lmaoing over here being explained this joke like a toddler.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- charcircuit 5y agoinfinity is typically not defined to be even or odd.
- pinerd3 5y agoThis is clever, but I wouldn't call it a variation on this style of proof — the OP was an example of a somewhat-subtle logic error, while this is just two instances of wordplay (forelegs ⇔ four legs; six legs being an 'odd' number of legs for a horse). The joke is funny though