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On Fri, 19 Jul 2013 22:34:29 +0200, Kevin Wampler <nob### [at] nowhere net>
wrote:
> On 7/19/2013 11:54 AM, Nekar Xenos wrote:
>>
>> I don't know.
>>
>> Maybe I should start with something simpler.
>>
>> Infinity + Infinity = ?
>>
>> Is there any other answer than 2(Infinity)?
>>
>> If so please explain.
>>
>> -Unlike Warp I don't know the answer and really want to know :)
>>
>
> If you've even hung around people majoring in math in undergrad, you may
> have heard stories of a set theory class in which a they actually spend
> a day's class proving that 1+1 = 2. On the face of it this seems like a
> huge waste of time, why would you bother to construct a proof of such an
> obvious fact? Well, it's in answering questions such as yours in which
> such effort pays off.
>
> There are a few rather subtle points to a simple question like "what is
> 1+1":
>
> 1) What is a number?
> 2) What is addition?
>
> And in addition, for your question:
>
> 3) What do we mean by infinity?
>
> For the most part your answers to these questions don't matter for
> ordinary finite numbers, but as soon as you start treating infinity like
> a number these subtle points start to matter a great deal.
>
> In terms of your question "Infinity + Infinity = ??" you most commonly
> see one of two answers:
>
> a) Infinity * 2 (note: not 2 * Infinity, the order often matters)
> b) Infinity
>
> And this entirely glosses over issues that for some answers to questions
> 1-3 you can get more than one infinite number, at which point it matters
> which infinities you were adding!
>
> Sorry I don't have a simpler answer. But basically the only real way to
> answer it is "tell me what you really mean by Infinity, and only then
> can I tell you what Infinity+Infinity is". The answers given by clipka
> and Le_Forgeron/Orchid are but two of many possibilities (although they
> both get the same result, they are using different interpretations of
> "infinity" to do it).
>
I think I could say the specific infinity I'm thinking of would be the
biggest type of infinity.
What would that be?
Complex Infinity? (if that could be considered)
--
-Nekar Xenos-
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