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Kevin Wampler <nob### [at] nowhere net> wrote:
> Huh? Certainly infinity isn't an integer/real/rational/etc, but there
> are consistent and sensible definitions for "number" which include
> infinity(s) (I'm pretty sure you're aware of this, so maybe I'm missing
> your point?).
So it's a number that's not any kind of number? It's not an integer,
it's not rational, it's not irrational, it's not transcendental, and it
doesn't follow any of the rules of any of the other sets (eg. if you
add 1 to any number, you get a new number that's larger than the
original; or if you multiply any number by 0 you get 0.) All mathematical
operators and functions work completely different for it than for any
other numbers (moreover, most of them aren't even well-defined for
infinity.)
Infinity is not a number. It's just a concept that's used to describe
a more abstract notion. You can use it a bit like if it were a number
when dealing with things like limits, but even then it's just a shortcut
notation.
--
- Warp
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