Subject: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Bobert Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:11 PM Okay, I'll have to admit that I'm on shaky grounds here but I (think?) I remember my freshamn year in college... Fir some reason unbeknownst to me, I started college as an architecture major only tp find out that all they really wanted designed suff were mathmaticans.... Now to further mess things up, I had come sown with mono just a week before classes were to begin so by the time I got there, I was a week late and trying to get caught up on the calculis course I had signed up for... Well, my first day, which was everyone elses 3rd or 4th class the guy teachin' the class proved, atleast on the chalk board, that 1 = 2... Now, fir the life of me, I couldn't produce the stuff that he had on the chalkboard but I'm sure there's someone out in Mudburg who went thru the same thing and remembers this little academic exercise and maybw they would like to share it with us... No matter. That's all I remember of the story and with all the ='s going 'round figgured, hey, this might be my last chance on this subject... so???? Bobert |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:16 PM Here it is, Bobert. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Bill D Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:16 PM no, I don't know that one...but I can show that half of twelve is seven.... XII VII |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:20 PM However, I have no ide what anything on that link means. What Bill D did above is advanced math as far as I'm concerned. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Bobert Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:24 PM Ouch, brucie!!!! Yup, that was prolly it? Heck if I know since my math skills have slid a tad since 1965... Ahhhh, like who cares? Who started this bumb thread, anyway???? (Ahhhh, Bobert. You started it...) Nevermind... Where's Joe Offer when you really need him??? Bobert |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Teresa Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:28 PM LOL! Basically, it's an example of the impossibility of dividing any number by zero. just try it on your calculator. I dare you. :) Teresa |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:34 PM Well, Bobert ol' buddy, I ain't too bright. You needed the 'proof' for 1 = 2 and I gave a link that 2 = 1. I'll keep lookin'. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Amos Date: 27 Feb 05 - 12:30 AM It is perfectly correct Bobert until you get to the last step. It says you divide both sides by (a-x). Since you already decided to make a=x, you are saying to divide by (0). You can't divide by zero, because it is an infinite number or any other number, indeterminate. So the last step is an illegal operation and cooks the whole thing into looking like it says 2=1. But you could weasel it artound to say 4 = 1 or 59 = 13 too. Once you go illegal, anything goes. Kinda like life. A |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: dianavan Date: 27 Feb 05 - 12:40 AM My daughter and I are having a running argument about 0. I say that 0 is not a number because a number means that there is something that you can actually count, ie: 1 = 1 object She says not so. She says 0 is a number. I say that it is simply a digit used to determine place value. At best it can be called a numeral but never a number. So what do you think? |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 27 Feb 05 - 12:54 AM Yes and no it seems. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 27 Feb 05 - 01:01 AM Sure zero is a number. It's right between 1 and -1 on any graph. It's the inverse of zero that's not a number. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: DMcG Date: 27 Feb 05 - 03:04 AM Here's a little trick that often puzzles children around seven or so. "I have eleven fingers. Look (counting fingers on one hand), Ten, nine, eight, seven, six. (Counting other hand) One, two, three four five. Six and five is ...?" |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Amos Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:08 AM It is the number that results from any quantity being subtracted from itself. It is also a placeholder. Most important reason for having it is we would go crazy without it to express several concepts. It is also an important clue to spiritual nature. A |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Blissfully Ignorant Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:58 AM 0's not a number, it's a donut. Silly people... |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: JennyO Date: 27 Feb 05 - 09:57 AM No, it's not a donut, it's the hole. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Blaise Pascal Date: 27 Feb 05 - 10:20 AM Of course zero iz a noomber! Eet iz zee bezt noomber, zince when eet iz deevided by eetself eet iz zee firzt noomber to equal one! Zee rule about deeviding by zero iz seellee, because eef a noomber cannot be deevided by eetself eet cannot be a noomber and I, Blaise Pascal, have said that zero iz a noomber, n'est pas? Zerefore, zero equals one. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Ada Byron Lovelace Date: 27 Feb 05 - 10:38 AM Blaise Pascal is an idiot. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,GUEST, Grace Hopper Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:07 AM Stop pushing in, Ada, I was here first. Merely living before me isn't enough, you know. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Justin Othermoron Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:27 AM An inverse is the number by which a number is multiplied to equal 1. The inverse of 2 is 1/2 because 2 X 1/2=1. The inverse of 1/1,000,000 is 1,000,000. So, the smaller the number, the larger its inverse, right? That means the inverse of zero would have to be infinity. And, since division by any number is the same as multiplication by that number's inverse (dividing by 10 is the same as multiplying by 1/10), division by zero is the same as multiplication by infinity. And you cannot multiply by infinity. It's already as big as it can get. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Ah, but Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:32 AM But, Justin, Cantor showed that there are at least two different infinities (countable and uncountable) and in at least one sense, uncountable infinities are bigger ... |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,But surely.. Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:46 AM Infinity is infinity. One can not be bigger that the other. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:46 AM What do you get if you subtract infinity from infinity? |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,And so... Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:47 AM ... it would be a bit like saying 'some are more equal than others... |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:48 AM What do you get if you subtract infinity from infinity? 0? |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Ah but Date: 27 Feb 05 - 11:50 AM 'Bigger' (and subtraction, come to that) is only really defined for numbers, and infinity is not a number, so in the ordinary sense, the word really has no meaning for infinity. But since you can draw a one-to-one correspondence from the countable to the uncountable, but going the other way leaves 'holes' (which is why it is uncountable in the first place), there is a sense in which one is bigger than the other. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST Date: 27 Feb 05 - 12:05 PM What I want to know is how much wood, could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Alaska Mike Date: 27 Feb 05 - 12:09 PM Sorry, that last guest was me, damn cookie got eaten. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Ada Byron Lovelace Date: 27 Feb 05 - 12:13 PM Grace, Blaise Pascal is an idiot. Surely everyone knows that by now! Besides, if I didn't live before you, who would you name the programming language after? When I reincarnate, I'm going to name a program language "Grace." And if I run into either Charles Babbage or Blaise Pascal, I'm going to pop them one. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Don Firth Date: 27 Feb 05 - 01:56 PM As you ramble on through life, Whate'er might be your goal; Keep your eye upon the donut And not upon the hole. (Sign over the counter in a donut shop in Seattle.) Don Firth |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST Date: 27 Feb 05 - 02:29 PM I couldn't follow the first proof: I think it was meant to read like this one here Stu |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Amos Date: 27 Feb 05 - 03:18 PM Same violation a little earlier int he sequence (Divide by a-b). A |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:40 PM Happy with why the proof is wrong: can't make sense of how the earlier post is supposed to mislead - the steps aren't mathematical, or am I missing something Stu |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Bobert Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:42 PM Well, O may not be a number but if a guy is writtin' you a check, the more 0's it's got in it the better for you. So I would question anyone who says it has no value... But I'm prolly splitin' hairs here... Bobert |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:43 PM Unless it reads: Pay to the order of ___________________ $.00000000000003742956 |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: dianavan Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:59 PM Bobert - Sorry for the thread creep. 1=2 is way beyond me but I can't wait to try it on my smarty pants daughter! She seems to have all the answers these days. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: robomatic Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:40 PM My brother remembered complaining about his teachers checking his work in mathematics class. Why wasn't it good enough just to have the right answer there? Dad put a piece of paper before it and wrote: 1 = 2 plus 2 = 1 __________________________ ergo: 3 = 3 "There," he said, "I got the right answer!" |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Bobert Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:51 PM Works fir this ol' hillbilly, robo, but the Wes Ginny Slide Rule ain't all that convinced... |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 27 Feb 05 - 07:51 PM If any of you encounter s0omeone who is willing to believe 1=2, please let me know? |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Rapparee Date: 27 Feb 05 - 08:16 PM If I find someone who believes 1=2, I'll keep their name to myself at first. They'll also believe that politicians are here to help you, that they can fill an inside straight, and that they can always get the best of the bargain. After I show 'em otherwise I'll turn 'em over to Brucie for graduate education. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 27 Feb 05 - 08:24 PM By then they'll be broke. Thanks, Rapper. |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: robomatic Date: 28 Feb 05 - 12:36 AM I remember the little kid at the playground who chose nickels over dimes, I'll see if I can put him in touch with ya... but you'll still lose a nickel |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Teresa Date: 28 Feb 05 - 12:49 AM Surely, you're all joking. ;) Teresa |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Don Firth Date: 28 Feb 05 - 08:03 PM "If any of you encounter s0omeone who is willing to believe 1=2, please let me know?" A major portion of the population of Washington, D.C.? Slightly more than 50% of the voters? How about-- Sorry. I'll shut up now. Don Firth |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Bobert Date: 28 Feb 05 - 08:08 PM Hey, Washington, D.C. ain't a Bush town... Most of the folks who actually live there would run Bush over if they saw him crossin' the street and not give it a second thought... So don't mess with D.C.... America's only North American colony... Bobert |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Don Firth Date: 28 Feb 05 - 08:19 PM Bobert, I was thinkin' of the temporary population. You, know, those transients who hang out in the White House and around the Capitol, etc. Wear suits a lot, talk a blue streak and say nothing, those folks. And, of course, the folks who sent them there (maybe to get them out of their own state, perhaps? That would explain a lot!). Don Firth |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: Peace Date: 28 Feb 05 - 09:45 PM Don, you are BAD! |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 01 Mar 05 - 09:57 AM It is said that when Bertrand Russell, in a lecture, mentioned that a false proposition implies any proposition, a student raised his hand and said, "In that case, given that 1=2, prove that you are the pope." (Russell of course meant "implies" in the sense of material implication, not of the existence of a proof, so that the question showed a perhaps deliberate misunderstanding.) Russell replied: The set containing the pope and me has two members. But 1=2; therefore it has one member; therefore I am the pope. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: Be careful what you do with your resentment. :|| |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: ToulouseCruise Date: 01 Mar 05 - 10:06 AM This reminds me of.. 2 + 2 = 5 ... but only for very large values of 2. Brian |
Subject: RE: BS: 1 = 2..... From: jeffp Date: 01 Mar 05 - 10:46 AM Zero is a number. It is part of the set of whole numbers, which is a subset of the set of integers, which is a subset of the set of rational numbers, which is a subset of the set of real numbers. There are other sets of numbers as well, such as the imaginary numbers (even roots of negative numbers) and the transfinite numbers (which measure levels of infinity, a bizarre concept). Warp factor 9, Mister Sulu; let's get out of here! |