Need help finding a cool math theory....

[Relf Lauren]

Out of curiosity;


...I read in one of my math textbooks about a theory saying something about how "nothing actually ever moves" (it is because a finite distance between two objects can be infinitely cut up into halves, eventually leading to something that proves that no motion ever occurd......)......I know there is a theory like that, but i am just having problems explaining it....

also, does anyone have any other cool philosophical math thoeries?

Thanks!

 

[Nocturnal]

www.google.com

Do it on Chaos Theory, or the Butterfly Effect.

 

[kevinthenerd]

I believe in a circular number line. Positive infinity (when not denoted as a limit) is equal to negative infinity. This is the only way I can explain 1/0

 

[Paul Ma]

It's called Zeno's Paradox.

 

[DuffmanOhYeah]

Originally posted by: Paul Ma
It's called Zeno's Paradox.

Not quite, but very similar. I think Zeno stated that an object can only occupy the space it is in, and cannot occupy the space in which it is not. Therefore, an object can never move, for it to move, it must occupy the space in which it does not currently occupy.

The decreasing halves thing was based on a race that could never be won. ie. There was a racer that was faster, but started later. At the instant that he got to the point where the slower racer was when the faster one started, the slower one would have moved forward ever so slightly. Once the faster got to that point, the slower would have moved forward agian.

This is all of course IIRC.

 

[Relf Lauren]

Thanks Paul Ma!

Thats the one I was looking for!....also, thanks for everyone who replied!