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Math of the gods

Math of the gods

Posers and Puzzles

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@Martin said
The barrel would contain twice the infinite number of pebbles versus the bag containing an infinite number of pebbles
Actually as ATousand has explained "infinity " is a symbol not a number.

As Cantor so aptly taught us there are diferent sizes of infinity, the smallest being "countable infinities" and that is what you have:
You have a countable infinity of odd numbers in one barrel and a countable infinity of even numbers in the other, and there is no differnce in "number" because we talk about symbols.

The prrof is simple: tell me the highest number in any of the barrel (which will represent about the half of the tiles in it). I can give you a higher number for the other, bit this can be topped again by adding one into infinity. In fact there is no biggest number and less so a "double" of the biggest numer (which would proove that the "biggest" wasn't.

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@Martin said
???

Isn't that what I just said
No. You didn't factor in the fact that the barrel has one removed from it every day so the net increase is 1, not 2.

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@Ponderable said
Actually as ATousand has explained "infinity " is a symbol not a number.

As Cantor so aptly taught us there are diferent sizes of infinity, the smallest being "countable infinities" and that is what you have:
You have a countable infinity of odd numbers in one barrel and a countable infinity of even numbers in the other, and there is no differnce in "number" because w ...[text shortened]... st number and less so a "double" of the biggest numer (which would proove that the "biggest" wasn't.
I think we all agree on scenario 1 ... both barrels have an infinite number of pebbles.


And what is your take on scenario 2?

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@Paul-Martin said
I think we all agree on scenario 1 ... both barrels have an infinite number of pebbles.


And what is your take on scenario 2?
Scebario 2? The second option from post one is just symmetric to the first, so odd and even numbered pebbles are reversed.


@Ponderable said
Scebario 2? The second option from post one is just symmetric to the first, so odd and even numbered pebbles are reversed.
No it is not.
Day 1: pebble #1 removed from barrel to bag
Day 2: pebble#2 removed from barrel to bag
et cetera.

My understanding is that the barrel is empty after an infinite amount of iterations
(Contrary to common-sense)

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@Paul-Martin
I reread:

* the barrel won't eb empty since you add two pebbles ab´nd remove one.
* Of course the bag would contain the lowest numbers while the barrel yould contian the highest numbers, but as said befire if you approach infinity both halves will approach infinity.


@Ponderable said
@Paul-Martin
I reread:

* the barrel won't eb empty since you add two pebbles ab´nd remove one.
* Of course the bag would contain the lowest numbers while the barrel yould contian the highest numbers, but as said befire if you approach infinity both halves will approach infinity.
In the first scenario the contents of both barrel and bag are easily defined.
The barrel contains the set of ALL odd numbers and the bag contains the
set of ALL even numbers. Both are infinite.

In the second scenario the contents of the bag is the set of ALL
natural numbers (N) which is obviously infinite.

So what numbers are in the barrel? How can the contents be described?


This sheds some light on the paradox

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