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[Romano]

Let us try another way.

The conclusion is that the biggest number is 1

[Lulu_Jane]

I'm going to go with pi.

3.14159 ad infinitum

[SlowCoder]

Originally Posted by Romano

Let us try another way.

The conclusion is that the biggest number is 1

I remember watching some show years ago that tried to explain that mathematically speaking, a traveling object could never reach its destination, but could come infinitely close. The equation you're using is basically the outcome. Totally illogical to me, but maybe you're right in that sense, and 1 really is the biggest number.

[_r.u.s.s.]

Originally Posted by Romano

Let us try another way.

The conclusion is that the biggest number is 1

huh? the conclusion is that the biggest number is 3

3
:P

[Japo]

That's not really the way it works, infinity is neither a real nor a definite number.

By the way the total numbers of atoms in the whole universe has been estimated at around 1e80, so chances are that you won't need one bigger. :P

Originally Posted by SlowCoder

I remember watching some show years ago that tried to explain that mathematically speaking, a traveling object could never reach its destination, but could come infinitely close.

Not true, that paradox was solved centuries ago. That you divide a process in infinite steps does not imply that it will take an infinite amount of time, since an infinite number of amounts can add a finite amount:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_series

[SlowCoder]

Originally Posted by Japofran

Not true, that paradox was solved centuries ago. That you divide a process in infinite steps does not imply that it will take an infinite amount of time, since an infinite number of amounts can add a finite amount:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_series

Japo, Why are you tossing that stuff onto me? I can't read that gibberish!

I was a kid back then, so can't remember details. I just remember that they tried to explain mathematically that a ball thrown from a pitcher would never actually reach the catcher, because for each instance of time, the ball would only travel half as far as the previous time. I don't know how that's logical, or what the heck it has to do with baseball. It's confounded me to this day. :embarassed:

[Japo]

These kind of paradoxes were formulated by charlatan Zeno on the Vth century BC. The one I heard first was "Achilles and the tortoise":

In the paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, Achilles is in a footrace with the tortoise. Achilles allows the tortoise a head start of 100 feet. If we suppose that each racer starts running at some constant speed (one very fast and one very slow), then after some finite time, Achilles will have run 100 feet, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point. During this time, the tortoise has run a much shorter distance, for example 10 feet. It will then take Achilles some further time to run that distance, in which time the tortoise will have advanced farther; and then more time still to reach this third point, while the tortoise moves ahead. Thus, whenever Achilles reaches somewhere the tortoise has been, he still has farther to go.

But if you calculate the sum of that infinite amount of ever shorter time spans, the total is finite. Just the same that

1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + ... = 1

Even though there are infinite addends, they add up a finite amount.

[DoomYoshi]

Today I put 10 000! into my calculator which broke it... However, 2000! worked fine:nuts:

[AlumiuN]

Originally Posted by Japofran

These kind of paradoxes were formulated by charlatan Zeno on the Vth century BC. The one I heard first was "Achilles and the tortoise":



But if you calculate the sum of that infinite amount of ever shorter time spans, the total is finite. Just the same that

1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + ... = 1

Even though there are infinite addends, they add up a finite amount.

That's only theoretical -> e.g. 1 is the sum to infinity of that sequence. In what could be called 'practical terms' e.g. no theoretical numbers such as infinity, Achilles will never pass the tortoise. Of course, taking exact points in time for a continuous scale doesn't have any bearing in real life, but from the standpoint of conventional maths, 1 is never reached.

[_r.u.s.s.]

Originally Posted by Japofran

That's not really the way it works, infinity is neither a real nor a definite number.

well, it's a set, which has infinite ammount of numbers, so..