2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.

[iamtrout]

2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.

I read on straightdope.com that this is a joke, but I'm a bit wary of trusting a source that has "dope" in the title, at least for things like this which have the possibility of getting very complex.

So what's the deal? Joke or highly complex mathematics?

 

[imgod2u]

The expression 2 + 2 = 5 is from George Orwell's 1984 as far as I know. There are probably tons of impressive-sounding proofs for this. Not sure whether any of them are credible though...

 

[TStep]

Implies the sum of the whole is greater than the parts???

 

[Vee]

Joke or symbolic. Not mathematics.

 

[Peter]

2 is a constant, 5 is too.

It's a joke mathematicians like to pull on physicians, picking on the typically low precision of the latters' results.

 

[imported_Hamzter]

What, like 2.4 + 2.4 = 4.8, when rounded it becomes 2 + 2 = 5? Seems a bit silly to me

 

[eLiu]

Just math people making fun of FP inaccuracy...I think

 

[jagec]

you think that's bad, in composites they say 1+1=5



meaning the properties of the components of a composite (like strength, modulus, etc), summed up, are lower than the properties of the fully fabricated composite.

 

[91TTZ]

Sounds like rounding errors to me.

 

[SniperFury]

Fusion. It is how the sun operates. 2 + 2 = 5 if I remember correctly, it was a while back I may even have it messed up. Like a wrong value here or there

 

[dababus]

Originally posted by: TStep
Implies the sum of the whole is greater than the parts???

:thumbsup:

 

[gsellis]

Well, it could be true. Statisticians would tend to say that it is improbable that 2+2 is something other than 4, so therefore it would not be impossible... ;D

 

[TheDude20165]

If it smells like BS...

 

[villageidiot111]

I too think it just comes from 1984.

 

[Steffenm]

Bring a bottle of wine and turn down the lights, and 1+1 might become >=3

 

[magomago]

actually, my friend whose brother was a phsycis/math/computer science major (and japanese minor) at CalTech wrote some paper on how "1+1=3...in big numbers"

so many there is a real logic behind it

oh, this guy graduated in four years might i add.

 

[DrPizza]

I've got 2 t-shirts with 2+2 = 5
I think they're available at thinkgeeks

 

[crazychicken]

i would imagine "big numbers" is some sort of other number system.

that is like 1+1=0 in binary addition.
a numerical statement should only hold true in the language it was intended to be interperated (sp?) in.

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: iamtrout
2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.

I read on straightdope.com that this is a joke, but I'm a bit wary of trusting a source that has "dope" in the title, at least for things like this which have the possibility of getting very complex.

So what's the deal? Joke or highly complex mathematics?

Sure you can prove that if you divide 0 by 0...

 

[Boze]

Originally posted by: gsellis
Well, it could be true. Statisticians would tend to say that it is improbable that 2+2 is something other than 4, so therefore it would not be impossible... ;D

This reminds me of a joke I heard from a rich businessowner about hiring accountants...

"When hiring an accountant, only one question should ever be asked, and that question is, 'What is 2+2?' If the accountant answers anything other than '4', don't hire that person because that person is cleary stupid. If the accountant answers '4', don't hire that person, because that person is too smart. If the accountant answers, 'What do you want it to be?', hire them immedately!"

*chuckles* *sigh*, I love that joke...

 

[Cattlegod]

2+2=6 for infinitely high values of 2.

 

[venk]

"There are FOUR lights!"

 

[twharry]

My fiance is a friggin egghead Nuclear Engineering grad student at one of the top programs in the world. She and I had a two day long argument last summer about which sum was larger... infinity or infinity + 1. She said that infinity is infinite, and as such, there is no number larger. I argued that infinity + 1 was always larger by 1.

Then she told me that math is not always finite, and that 1 is a statistically insignificant number. We then came to the conclusion that infinity and 4 are insignificantly different. Messed up.

Reminds me of the month I spent with my first roommate at Michigan arguing about absolute zero. What an absurd notion that is.

 

[Matthias99]

My fiance is a friggin egghead Nuclear Engineering grad student at one of the top programs in the world. She and I had a two day long argument last summer about which sum was larger... infinity or infinity + 1. She said that infinity is infinite, and as such, there is no number larger. I argued that infinity + 1 was always larger by 1.

This is a different topic, but since you already bumped a month-old thread...

"Infinity" and "Infinity + 1" are equal. If you take an infinite set, and add any number of elements to it, it is still equal in size to any other infinite set (basically, all infinite sets are equal in size). This leads to counterintuitive results such as there being exactly as many odd integers as there are odd AND even integers put together, but that's the way it works.

 

[twharry]

...in theory...