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Author Topic:   0.99999~ = 1 ?
Phat
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Posts: 18348
From: Denver,Colorado USA
Joined: 12-30-2003
Member Rating: 1.0


Message 185 of 237 (544559)
01-27-2010 4:03 AM
Reply to: Message 184 by Rrhain
01-27-2010 2:57 AM


Hypothetical Coconuts, Gilligan
Rrhain writes:
Question: When 1:00 comes around, and 1:00 always comes around, how many coconuts are in the pit?
The answer is: None. They all got thrown out. For every single coconut you care to name, I can give you an exact time when it was tossed out of the pit: Coconut #1 was tossed out at 12:00. Coconut #2 was tossed out at 12:30. #3 at 12:45, #4 at 12:52:30.
So even though an infinite number of coconuts are involved, every single one of them was involved in the process and thus, not one is left in the pit when 1:00 comes around.
No matter how many coconuts were involved in the doings of the fractions of time 1:00, at exactly 1:00, Coconuts X and Y are taken to the pit by superman and Coconut Y is dutifully removed, at that exact fraction in time. (X+Y)-(Y)=X Coconuts in pit. (X+Y)=superman's contribution, (Y) equals Captain Marvels stolen booty and thus at any given fraction of time, assuming that Superman and marvel operate at exactly the same speed in that fraction, there will always be X-Y coconuts in the pit. the ONLY way that i could see a discrepancy is if X=0 and Y=1.
Given:
1) Captain Marvel takes a coconut out for every 2 that superman deposits. At any given fraction of time, the result is always going to be 2-1. Right?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 184 by Rrhain, posted 01-27-2010 2:57 AM Rrhain has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 186 by Phat, posted 01-27-2010 4:20 AM Phat has not replied
 Message 188 by Rrhain, posted 01-27-2010 6:12 AM Phat has not replied

  
Phat
Member
Posts: 18348
From: Denver,Colorado USA
Joined: 12-30-2003
Member Rating: 1.0


Message 186 of 237 (544560)
01-27-2010 4:20 AM
Reply to: Message 185 by Phat
01-27-2010 4:03 AM


Im puzzling myself
Let me try and think out loud about this hypothetical construct even more...(Math puzzles me, and i was never that good at it)
This reminds me of the problem, (I forget the exact name) where the tortoise runs half as far as the hare....does anyone remember it?
Given:
1) Captain Marvel and Superman operate at the exact same speed.
2) Superman always deposits 2X as many coconuts in the pit as does Marvel take out.
3) Time can be divided into infinitely small units of measure, and Superman and Marvel both can keep up the pace.
Does it not then follow that for any given unit of time (T) there will always be 2 coconuts in and one coconut out? Thus, even if every single coconut can be accounted for by a number, there is always at that same moment a number twice as great going into the pit...thus at any given moment of time, X+X (or X+Y?) Coconuts are going into the pit, while either X or Y are coming out of the pit...leaving the contents of the pit always at some variable of X (or Y) be it 1X, 2X, google-X, or Infinity X.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 185 by Phat, posted 01-27-2010 4:03 AM Phat has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 187 by Huntard, posted 01-27-2010 5:09 AM Phat has not replied
 Message 189 by Rrhain, posted 01-27-2010 6:28 AM Phat has not replied

  
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