5 ms·
Would you suppose there's any value in writing it as: 2 * 3 = (1 + 1) + (1 + 1) + (1 + 1) = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6? Generally it's kind of pointless, but c
by neurobro 12y ago
Would you suppose there's any value in writing it as:
2 * 3 = (1 + 1) + (1 + 1) + (1 + 1) = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6?
Generally it's kind of pointless, but consider:
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = (1 + 1 + 1) + (1 + 1 + 1) = 3 * 2
Interesting (imho), I just swapped the operands without assuming multiplication is commutative.
- sthatipamala 12y agoAlthough you did assume addition is associative (I wonder if there is some duality involved here)
- neurobro 12y agoYeah I'm not sure. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if I made a hidden commutativity assumption that would surface if I tried to justify treating multiplication as repeated addition like that.