Never understood the whole "if you slice by half, you'll never reach zero".

[jman19]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Without this basic fundamental theorem of Calculus there would be ZERO engineering or engineers.

Umm, no. Modern engineering would be VERY different but there wouldn't be "zero engineering."

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: elmer92413
You will only reach the wall because you are not a point. You have volume and take up space. But if you measure from a point on the tip of your foot and had the ability to move extremely minute distances that point on the tip of your foot would never come in contact with the wall.

False, that presumes that movement can be done in sub-plank length increments. Since it can't the number of divisions is not infinite but finite.

You're missing the point or taking this exercise too literally.

 

[Zugzwang152]

If you only take away half of something, there's always half left thus you can never reach zero. Your problem is you can only think of yourself walking into a wall instead of something relevant.

 

[jman19]

OP fails.

 

[Mardeth]

I remember how there was this ancient Greek math/logic problem about a turtle and a man running. The turtle would get a head start and "run" 1/10th of the speed of the man in a race. So lets say the head start is 10ft. Bang, they start. By the time the man gets to the original point from where the turtle started it has already moved 1ft. Now man gets to this point, turtle is 1/10th of a feet ahead. And so on and so on. We all know that the man catches up to the turle and passes him so why does the math contradict it? Obviously its just the wrong approachto the problem but pretty intresting.

 

[MotF Bane]

ATOT Mathematics and Engineering Corps - 1
scorpious - 0

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: spidey07
Without this basic fundamental theorem of Calculus there would be ZERO engineering or engineers.

Umm, no. Modern engineering would be VERY different but there wouldn't be "zero engineering."

You get the point. Calculus would be effectively non existent without it and that would cripple all the other sciences especially physics and chemistry.

 

[Hacp]

I'm confused. Doesn't that series converge at infinity?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: elmer92413
You will only reach the wall because you are not a point. You have volume and take up space. But if you measure from a point on the tip of your foot and had the ability to move extremely minute distances that point on the tip of your foot would never come in contact with the wall.

False, that presumes that movement can be done in sub-plank length increments. Since it can't the number of divisions is not infinite but finite.

You're missing the point or taking this exercise too literally.

Actually I'm not, its the fact that movement can only happen in a minimum of one plank length that actualy provides a solution to the puzzle.

 

[elmer92413]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: elmer92413
You will only reach the wall because you are not a point. You have volume and take up space. But if you measure from a point on the tip of your foot and had the ability to move extremely minute distances that point on the tip of your foot would never come in contact with the wall.

False, that presumes that movement can be done in sub-plank length increments. Since it can't the number of divisions is not infinite but finite.

You're missing the point or taking this exercise too literally.

Actually I'm not, its the fact that movement can only happen in a minimum of one plank length that actualy provides a solution to the puzzle.

Learn to read 😛 And it's planck

 

[bsobel]

Learn to read 😛 And it's planck

I read fine, I was explaning why the question is flawed. And your right, typo.. I do that with planck alot for some reason.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I usually prefer to use logic instead of math too. Math is just a set of man made rules, logic, well, is logic.

 

[ShockwaveVT]

Originally posted by: Mardeth
I remember how there was this ancient Greek math/logic problem about a turtle and a man running. The turtle would get a head start and "run" 1/10th of the speed of the man in a race. So lets say the head start is 10ft. Bang, they start. By the time the man gets to the original point from where the turtle started it has already moved 1ft. Now man gets to this point, turtle is 1/10th of a feet ahead. And so on and so on. We all know that the man catches up to the turle and passes him so why does the math contradict it? Obviously its just the wrong approachto the problem but pretty intresting.

Of course if you measure the man's progress only by when he reaches the turtle's previous position, the turtle will remain ahead. Measuring this way you get infinitely smaller distances and infinitely smaller time periods.

However if you approach it as two separate position functions, its pretty easy to solve for the time and location where the man passes the turtle.

 

[oiprocs]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus

Are you an engineer? Because I'm an engineer and I was actually taught math as part of my degree.

I am studying engineering, I took and passed the EIT, but no, I am not an engineer. Merely pointing out something I've thought about.

Originally posted by: se7en
No matter how many times you your penis will never get in.

Just FYI

FYI: Sentences that make sense can only enhance your point of view.

Originally posted by: Modular
It depends on how "logical" you want to be. If you think about this on a micro-level, then you will never actually touch the wall. The distance that you come towards the wall can never be 0 since you are only dividing by half, so the molecules of your body will never be close enough to make physical contact with the molecules of the wall.

Agreed. On a micro-level, you will never touch the wall.

However, most individuals never deal with micro-level. It's similar to when I see NFL scouts go gaga because one guy ran a 4.27 and the other ran a 4.30. 3/100ths of a decimal place means shit.

Originally posted by: QED
It IS pretty dumb to think that you'll never reach the wall.

It is even dumber to think that mathematicians actually believe this.

It is dumber still to not realize the whole situation is a rigged set-up designed to show that common and "obvious" assumptions can lead to false conclusions.

Newsletter please. I like your thinking.

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
If you only take away half of something, there's always half left thus you can never reach zero. Your problem is you can only think of yourself walking into a wall instead of something relevant.

Give me something relevant.

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
ATOT Mathematics and Engineering Corps - 1
scorpious - 0

You're on my side dammit! But you're only, what, a year or two into EE? Give it time my friend. You will join the dark side. :evil:

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: elmer92413
You will only reach the wall because you are not a point. You have volume and take up space. But if you measure from a point on the tip of your foot and had the ability to move extremely minute distances that point on the tip of your foot would never come in contact with the wall.

False, that presumes that movement can be done in sub-plank length increments. Since it can't the number of divisions is not infinite but finite.

You're missing the point or taking this exercise too literally.

Actually I'm not, its the fact that movement can only happen in a minimum of one plank length that actualy provides a solution to the puzzle.

What is the length of the plank in question?

Or are you talking about Planck?

 

[RaistlinZ]

TEXT

 

[Fox5]

If you could make infinitely small movements, you could get infinitely close to the wall without touching.
Though depending on how you define touch, it may be impossible to touch anything. It's unlikely your nuclei will come into contact with the nuclei of the object you're touching I'd imagine.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

ahhh, but if you slice by half squared, you will eventually reach zero!

 

[oiprocs]

Originally posted by: Fox5
If you could make infinitely small movements, you could get infinitely close to the wall without touching.
Though depending on how you define touch, it may be impossible to touch anything. It's unlikely your nuclei will come into contact with the nuclei of the object you're touching I'd imagine.

This post turns me on.

+1 for erotica

 

[Matthiasa]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: elmer92413
You will only reach the wall because you are not a point. You have volume and take up space. But if you measure from a point on the tip of your foot and had the ability to move extremely minute distances that point on the tip of your foot would never come in contact with the wall.

False, that presumes that movement can be done in sub-plank length increments. Since it can't the number of divisions is not infinite but finite.

You're missing the point or taking this exercise too literally.

Actually I'm not, its the fact that movement can only happen in a minimum of one plank length that actualy provides a solution to the puzzle.

Might want to brush up on what it actually is...:Q

Originally posted by: Hacp
I'm confused. Doesn't that series converge at infinity?

Yeah it would... limit x >8 of the sum .5^x from 1 to x is 1
erm unless it doesn't converge fast enough... hmmm dont remember that part..

 

[darkxshade]

Maybe nothing in this universe actually touches thus you get so close to the wall that you can just feel it. It's like running into an invisible force field that's infinitely small. Alternatively, the sperm gets so close to the egg it just freakin fertilizes itself. :Q

 

[Xecuter]

bahaha this thread is hilarious

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: Xecuter
bahaha this thread is hilarious

I guess if you're a math or engineer person. To me this thread is a buch of yawn. might as well argue ferociously about whether you actually "touch" in sex because of the molecular energy fields that actually prevent our molecules from touching.

 

[Gothgar]

this thread is a confusing mess of time warps

 

[magomago]

too many time warps, I agree.


but the reality is that you'll hit a point where humans cannot move forward at an infinitesimal distance. This is a case of where the theory is perfectly sound, but the means to measure/execute the theory is resolution limited.

edit:

well maybe not perfectly sound...if there is indeed a minimum length step that can be taken 'planck length' as bsobel said there is...I guess you will eventually reach it.