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January 22nd, 2019, 08:17 AM   #41
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 Originally Posted by sintan Ok let me straighten this out. For me it’s about curiosity. The recurring decimal is the itch that I can never quite scratch. It frequents my dreams and invades my meditations. It’s the blot on my copy book, the fly in the ointment, the Ringo to my Paul McCartney. ... I just cannot sate the feeling that the mathematics that underpins so many of the foundations on which we build our lives, so harmoniously accepts this troublesome and unsolvable conundrum. 1/3 isn’t 0.3333.
No mathematician thinks that 1/3 = 0.3333. That is your own misunderstanding. Even if I give you the benefit of implying $\frac{1}{3} = 0.\overline{3}$, you're still confusing things in that $0.\overline{3}$ is just a representation of $\frac{1}{3}$ in decimal form. There are uncountably many ways to represent $\frac{1}{3}$, where the decimal representation $0.\overline{3}$ is just one of them. This is nothing to lose sleep over.

January 22nd, 2019, 08:44 AM   #42
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 Originally Posted by AplanisTophet There are uncountably many ways to represent $\frac{1}{3}$,
Is this a figure of speech? I would like your reasoning on this.

January 22nd, 2019, 09:13 AM   #43
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 Originally Posted by Micrm@ss Is this a figure of speech? I would like your reasoning on this.
Let “peach” = 1/3
Let [insert squiggly line here] = 1/3
... and so on.

I’m separating the representation of the number in whatever language we care to conjur from the number itself.

 January 22nd, 2019, 09:19 AM #44 Math Team   Joined: Dec 2013 From: Colombia Posts: 7,622 Thanks: 2611 Math Focus: Mainly analysis and algebra Also, because maths happens in the mind rather than the physical world, mathematicians are able to work with (some) infinite objects such as infinite decimals and infinite sequences.
January 22nd, 2019, 09:36 AM   #45
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 Originally Posted by AplanisTophet Let “peach” = 1/3 Let [insert squiggly line here] = 1/3 ... and so on. I’m separating the representation of the number in whatever language we care to conjur from the number itself.
Yes, so why is it uncountable?

January 22nd, 2019, 10:53 AM   #46
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 Originally Posted by Micrm@ss Yes, so why is it uncountable?
Let each line segment between 0 and 1 inch in length represent 1/3. We can always come up with more arbitrary ways to represent 1/3...

Edit:

PS - Just in case you don't have a magnifying glass that powerful, for each real number x (of which there are uncountably many), let 1/3 = x/3x.

Last edited by AplanisTophet; January 22nd, 2019 at 11:04 AM.

January 22nd, 2019, 11:11 AM   #47
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Quote:
 Originally Posted by AplanisTophet Let each line segment between 0 and 1 inch in length represent 1/3. We can always come up with more arbitrary ways to represent 1/3... Edit: PS - Just in case you don't have a magnifying glass that powerful, for each real number x (of which there are uncountably many), let 1/3 = x/3x.
Wait, what? Aren't there at most countably many notations for each notatable number? (Excluding those that are not notatable at all, such as noncomputable numbers.)

Last edited by skipjack; January 22nd, 2019 at 12:57 PM.

January 22nd, 2019, 11:27 AM   #48
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 Originally Posted by Maschke Wait, what? Aren't there at most countably many notations for each notatable number? (Excluding those that are not notatable at all, such as noncomputable numbers.)
If you are restricting your notations to formulas that can be produced using a finite formal language that takes into account only finite sentences, then sure, there are only countably many.

My only point is that a representation of a number ought not be confused as being the number itself. There certainly are uncountably many representations that we could conjure. The line segment 'thing' above demonstrates that, as there are uncountably many line segments that have lengths of between 0 and 1 inches long.

Last edited by skipjack; January 22nd, 2019 at 12:58 PM.

January 22nd, 2019, 12:01 PM   #49
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 Originally Posted by AplanisTophet If you are restricting your notations to formulas that can be produced using a finite formal language that takes into account only finite sentences, then sure, there are only countably many. My only point is that a representation of a number ought not be confused as being the number itself. There certainly are uncountably many representations that we could conjure.
Repeating a false claim doesn't count as evidence. Can you explain what you mean?

Quote:
 Originally Posted by AplanisTophet The line segment 'thing' above demonstrates that, as there are uncountably many line segments that have lengths of between 0 and 1 inches long.
That couldn't be more false, as it contradict known physics and profoundly misrepresents the nature of physical measurement.

Last edited by skipjack; January 22nd, 2019 at 12:59 PM.

January 22nd, 2019, 12:06 PM   #50
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Quote:
 Originally Posted by AplanisTophet Let each line segment between 0 and 1 inch in length represent 1/3. We can always come up with more arbitrary ways to represent 1/3... Edit: PS - Just in case you don't have a magnifying glass that powerful, for each real number x (of which there are uncountably many), let 1/3 = x/3x.
There are only finitely many atoms in the line segment, so finitely many ways to write a line segment, no?

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