how does "infinity" work?

DungeonJayne | 13:28 Wed 25th Mar 2009 | ChatterBank

40 Answers

There are an infinite number of whole numbers.

There are also an infinite number of even numbers.

But if the number of even numbers ...

... is only half of the number of whole numbers ...

Is the number of even numbers truly infinite?

(when there is another number twice as big).

Wednesdays can be dull, can't they ?

Wish I had my own house

theatre tickets

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sophie_1003

but how?? arrgh, even basic maths makes me confused, i shouldn't have got involved!

dr b

The mistake is to treat infinity as a number that follows "normal" rules of arithmetic - it isn't and it doesn't.

To make matters even more confusing, consider that there are an infinite number of (irrational) numbers that lie between zero and one. This gets into the distinction between "countably infinite" (like the even and odd numbers, they can be put into a 1-to-1 correspondence with the "natural" numbers 1, 2, 3...) and "uncountably infinite" like the numbers between zero and one.

most of the great mathematicians who studied the properties of infinity (notably Georg Cantor) wound up spending time in mental institutions - and can you blame them?

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity

sqad617

JJ...infifnity is a concept and has no exact value.

DungeonJayne

Question Author

But, according to Fibanacci, 0 is a real number.

Infinity, however, is only a philosophical concept ...

... and so we have to rationalise it.

It's like a numerical version of Schroedinger's Cat (not sure about the spelling of that)

(I think it's "c-a-t" ... LOL)

Panic Button

Stuff it, who fancies a pint?

ummmm

Me Panic...me..!!!

DungeonJayne

Question Author

Panic ... you've wiped up you head mess, I hope !

Panic Button

I can't see now, sorry

DungeonJayne

Question Author

Oh, okay ... I'll c u m to the pub then.

=0)

sophie_1003

lol at dungeonjayne, not sure may be k-a-t, thinking of maths has fried my brain!

Ice.Maiden

Lol - you're in a thoughtful mood today jayne!!
Infinity is undefined because it has no end.
If you combine all the positive numbers with negative, you can form an equation, but it always results in zero.
For instance - 1 + -1 + 2 + -2 + 3 + -3........infinite - lol - it always equals 0. Infinity's just a representation of a never-ending series, but not a number in itself.
Coffee time! : )

squarebear

A thing that confuses me is, imagine you dropped an apple from 6 foot above the ground, after a short while it would be half way between you dropping it and the ground (3 feet).

Then it would fall a bit more and be half way betwen 3 feet and the ground (1.5 feet) and then be 0.75 feet between that point and the ground and so on forever.

No matter how far it falls, there should always be a half way point, so in theory the apple should fall forever, as there is always a half way point between itself and the ground (no matter how small).

DungeonJayne

Question Author

An interesting twist, Icey.

Oooh ...

Did anyone spot the possible real maths/science person (dr b) straying into ChatterBank ?

We're not used to sensible answers here !

logic

that's why they say that males have infinate wisdom,

It's never ending.

DungeonJayne

Question Author

squarebear ... that's Zeno's Paradox

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