This is why mathematics makes my head hurt... - by catbarf
Swiss Mercenary on 29/9/2007 at 07:00
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
Dividing by infinity does not equal zero.
That's because you can't divide by infinity, duh. :rolleyes:
You can take the
limit of a division by infinity. In which case, depending on what you divide by what, the answer could be 0, a constant, or infinity.
Taking the limit is not the same thing as computing the value, so any kind of layman's math that involves division by zero, or infinity doesn't work.
driver on 29/9/2007 at 07:11
Quote Posted by Duncan
At least my time was not a complete loss.
Apparently they all fell up stairs.
thefonz on 29/9/2007 at 09:16
I have it on good authority that the answer is 42 anyway.
So lets all go home and play with our digital watches.
fett on 29/9/2007 at 13:16
This is why mathematics makes my head hurt...
And on the subject of the English language, why the does the word 'mathematics' have a fucking 'e' in the middle of it? HUH?
Angel Dust on 29/9/2007 at 13:22
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
That's because you can't divide by infinity, duh. :rolleyes:
You can take the
limit of a division by infinity. In which case, depending on what you divide by what, the answer could be 0, a constant, or infinity.
Taking the limit is not the same thing as computing the value, so any kind of layman's math that involves division by zero, or infinity doesn't work.
True! My bad and we had just done limits too! I should pay more attention in class I think.
Scots Taffer on 29/9/2007 at 13:23
Mathematics, not mathmatics. Maths, not math.
Jackablade on 29/9/2007 at 15:45
Whatever we grow up with sounds right. For me maths sounds stupid, but for you I'm sure it's the other way around.
Chimpy Chompy on 29/9/2007 at 17:21
Maths might be technically correct, but a th sound followed by s sounds awkward to me, so when speaking aloud I normally say math.
RocketMan on 29/9/2007 at 17:45
Quote Posted by CyberFish
Current theories suggest that the volume of space is a sphere with a radius equal to the speed of light multiplied by the age of the universe (plus a bit to account for early inflation)
Relativity does NOT prohibit faster than light expansion of space itself. It prohibits sub-luminal matter from surpassing the light barrier, from super-luminal matter dropping below it and from luminal (massless)particles to travel at any other speed. It is in fact almost guaranteed that the universe is wayyyyy bigger than you have suggested because the outer regions of the universe expand faster than any regions closer to the center. This is why a good portion of the universe is unobservable and resides outside of our light cones in the space-like region. You cannot mistake this expansion by directly comparing it to a balloon either, because a balloon is a 3D object with a 2D surface and the universe is probably a 4D object with a 3D space but if you want to think of it that way, our 3D space is like the 2D rubber of the balloon. All this assumes positive curvature also and that's even sketchy at this point
Thief13x on 29/9/2007 at 18:24
Quote Posted by catbarf
this is why math makes my head hurt...
blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah
this is why
you make my head hurt. Who says there is an infinte number of planets? even if the number is beyond comprehension, that doesn't mean it's infinite.
+ division by infininity isn't zero, although the limit of x/infinity is zero, not really sure what you're getting at here though, there are alot of holes in your reasoning, as usual
what are they teaching kids in schools these days omg
Quote Posted by catbarf
What other apparent absurdities are there? What is your favorite?
in truth, there are none, only misunderstanding by the masses.
