Originally Posted by Akryn
It's not incorrect because 0.999, repeating = 1
They are exactly the same value, there's no difference between them, they're just different ways of writing the same thing. That is not new information; it is taught in high school math. The fact that it seems weird is an artifact of human thinking. It's not a paradox anymore than "Zeno's paradox" is.
As a thought experiment for those who aren't convinced by anything above: what is 1 minus 0.9999 repeating. It would be 0.000000, followed by an infinite number of 0s, followed by a 1 right? There's a reason that sounds impossible.  |
No. They're
not equal. That'd be like saying 99/70 is the same as √2.
They're
close, yeah. But definitely
not equal. You're
rounding infinity, which eliminates the entire point of the concept of infinity (otherwise you might as well say √2 = 1, or π = 3).
Take for example your "thought experiment". The correct way to think of the answer is not 0, but an infinitely small amount of
something. Something cannot be nothing.
Also, infinity isn't a number. Take for example 1/∞. What you're attempting to say (in a roundabout fashion) is that 1/∞ = 0. Sorry:
That hyperbola is gonna go on for infinity, but it's never gonna touch an axis,
ever. In fact, by looking at a plot one could make the argument that ∞ is nothing more than the
opposite of 0.