Go back
Number system flawed?

Number system flawed?

Posers and Puzzles

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Bowmann
You're describing a quantity.
And how do you measure a quantity, if not with numbers...?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by orfeo
And how do you measure a quantity, if not with numbers...?
And how do you measure infinity...?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Bowmann
And how do you measure infinity...?
With an infinity meter of course. Available at any hardware store.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by jimslyp69
With an infinity meter of course. Available at any hardware store.
Well, I can't find one. Even at stores which sell DVD rewinders.

Vote Up
Vote Down

as you said, infinity is not a number

Vote Up
Vote Down

There is a type of albatros that is able to count. The fisherman will give the bird a fish for every 10th or so one it's caught.
We agree that the bird doesn't understand language as we do so
what represents numbers in its mind?

Emotions?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by oddbob
There is a type of albatros that is able to count. The fisherman will give the bird a fish for every 10th or so one it's caught.
We agree that the bird doesn't understand language as we do so
what represents numbers in its mind?

Emotions?
I don't understand. How is this showing that the albatross can count? It seems to me that the fisherman is doing the counting.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by oddbob
There is a type of albatros that is able to count. The fisherman will give the bird a fish for every 10th or so one it's caught.
We agree that the bird doesn't understand language as we do so
what represents numbers in its mind?

Emotions?
What flavour is it?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by doublez
...and we know that there are many more integers than perfect squares
NOT

Vote Up
Vote Down

whaddaya mean NOT?

obviously 3 is not a perfect square, already integers are one up...

1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by doublez
whaddaya mean NOT?

obviously 3 is not a perfect square, already integers are one up...
Classical logic is insufficient for dealing with infinite sets.
Every integer can be put into one-to-one correspondence with a perfect square.
1 -> 1
2 -> 4
3 -> 9
etc.

Hence the two sets are said to have an equal number of members (same cardinality).

See
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CountablyInfinite.html
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Aleph-0.html

Vote Up
Vote Down

yes but you obviously haven't read any galileo.

read this: http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/infinity1.asp

quite obviously, the set of perfect squares is a subset of the set of integers, and since it has been shown that some (ie most) integers are not in the set of perfect squares, the set of integers is larger, though they may both be infinite.

Nice try simplicio!

5 edits
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by doublez
yes but you obviously haven't read any galileo.

read this: http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/infinity1.asp

quite obviously, the set of perfect squares is a subset of the set of integers, and since it has been shown that some ...[text shortened]... s larger, though they may both be infinite.

Nice try simplicio!
Because an infinite set is a proper subset of another infinite set does not necessarily imply that the latter is larger.
How do you define the 'largeness' of an infinite set?
Read Cantor, not Galileo!

From your own source: You can effectively have 'smaller' and 'bigger' infinities, one a subset of the other, that are nonetheless the same size.

You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it THINK!


Vote Up
Vote Down

from the quote you gave (from my source) it implies that when one infinity is a subset of another it is smaller.

Also, about two sentences earlier it is stated:

"But here's the rub. There are lots of numbers that aren't squares of anything. So though there's a square for every single integer - an infinite set of them - there are even more individual numbers than there are squares."

So i win.

3 edits
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by doublez


So i win.
You haven't a clue what you are talking about.
In future you should stick to finite sets, sonny.

Originally posted by doublez
from the quote you gave (from my source) it implies that when one infinity is a subset of another it is smaller.
It said 'smaller', not smaller. Notice the difference? Duh.

Originally posted by doublez
Also, about two sentences earlier it is stated:

"But here's the rub. There are lots of numbers that aren't squares of anything. So though there's a square for every single integer - an infinite set of them - there are even more individual numbers than there are squares."

Infinity + Infinity = Infinity
or, more precisely,
Aleph(zero) + Aleph(zero) = Aleph(zero)

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.