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Author Topic:   0.99999~ = 1 ?
Apothecus
Member (Idle past 2410 days)
Posts: 275
From: CA USA
Joined: 01-05-2010


Message 84 of 237 (544104)
01-23-2010 6:03 PM
Reply to: Message 72 by Dr Jack
01-18-2010 1:49 PM


Re: 0 and Infinitesimally Small - Something and Nothing
Hey Mr. Jack.
All real numbers are limits
I've been following this thread for a while now, and there's something stuck and rattling around inside my head. Originally, I had no problem comprehending that .9999... was equal to 1 (you need calculus to get through pharmacy school for some insanely stupid reason) but then I got to thinking about all the other numbers this applies to. Obviously, an infinite number of them, no?
Sorry if this is super obtuse to some of you. I have no wish to waste anyone's time but logically it perplexes me as much as Zeno does. So any number which is represented with an infinite string of trailing nines is equal to the next number, correct? e.g. 3.11239999999..... is equal to 3.11234? 54,433.22223342999999.... is equal to 54,433.22223343? And so on and so on and so on, forever and ever?
Is this right?
If so, then in my mathematically rudimentary skull, infinity just got a lot more infinite.
Have a good .99999999......

This message is a reply to:
 Message 72 by Dr Jack, posted 01-18-2010 1:49 PM Dr Jack has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 85 by lyx2no, posted 01-23-2010 6:49 PM Apothecus has not replied
 Message 86 by bluescat48, posted 01-23-2010 7:04 PM Apothecus has not replied

  
Apothecus
Member (Idle past 2410 days)
Posts: 275
From: CA USA
Joined: 01-05-2010


Message 174 of 237 (544483)
01-26-2010 6:44 PM
Reply to: Message 157 by RAZD
01-25-2010 6:29 PM


Re: ~ to the 10th power?
It might be interesting to see how people think which explanations are the ones that best convince them -- Huntard and Straggler and any other lurkers who had trouble with this issue.
Aside from a couple off-topic posts, I've lurked here for a while. With regard to this thread, it seems to me that in order to not be found at night in a deserted lot in Chippewa Falls, naked, shivering, malnourished and bleeding from multiple self-inflicted shiv gashes, you need to fall into one of the following categories:
1. Geniune, honest mathematician
2. Not a mathematician, but still really smart with things like physics or drink mixology
3. Not a mathematician but with a rudimentary grasp of calculus or other maths (thus not too intellectually invested in your own opinion either way)
4. Don't care, but like to rattle the animals' cages all the same
I think I fall somewhere in the #3 category. I can grasp the concept as put forth, and since I'm blatantly ignorant to most of the rationale for objecting to why 0.9999.... should not equal 1, I can happily whistle "Bolero" as I scroll through this thread. It seems like a very straightforward idea on the surface, and as a committed #3, the surface is all I really care to see.
Thanks for this discussion.
Have a good one.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 157 by RAZD, posted 01-25-2010 6:29 PM RAZD has seen this message but not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 177 by Jon, posted 01-26-2010 8:05 PM Apothecus has seen this message but not replied

  
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