(no subject)

[theducks]

Here's an interesting article that postulates that .999 recurring = 1.

For those of you on my friends list who don't have a PhD in Mathematics, and the one of you who does but in an unrelated field.. the ideal is that since 1/3 = .333 recurring, and 2/3 = .666 recurring, and .333 + .666 = .999 and 1/3 + 2/3 = 3/3 = 1, .999 and 1 are the same number. The proof is further suggested by the fact that if .999 is less than 1, how much less? an infinate number of 0's, followed by a single one? :)

It's a cute read. For many purposes, .999 does equal one, but in other terms, it's like saying π = 4

Comments

[david adam <zanchey> (from livejournal.com)]

But you're a mathematician! Surely you aren't supposed to make such grave logical errors as in yur last sentence!

[david adam <zanchey> (from livejournal.com)]

(I blame lag for the spelling error. Editing in Firefox is a process with latency, damnit.)

[oliverm.livejournal.com]

Apologies, I should of course have asked if anyone wanted to question the premise, not the proof.

[ataxi.livejournal.com]

Although in general if someone says "0.9 recurring doesn't equal 1" the response "what's the difference then?" should beat them down quite quickly :-)