A
book that I've been reading recently (or more specifically, one chapter in the book) put me in mind of this thread.
The chapter deals with the rise of post-modernism and deconstructionist "mathematics".
To give you an example, the equation
E=mc² is, according to deconstuctionist thought, to be a "sexed" equation, in that the masculine
E is privileged over the overtly feminine
c, and is therefore invalid as an equation.
My point being that refusal to accept that 0.9 recurring = 1, whilst belonging to a recognisable school of thought (albeit unwittingly, no doubt), is sheer folly verging on the blindly ridiculous.
What deconstructivism fails to address is that the very axioms it is pulling apart with its specious logic support far more than their own logic (ie. stating 1 + 1 != 2 has knock on effects when working out 2 + 2), without degenerating into further absurd logical constructs.
I'm sure that the mathematicians here can attest to the importance (and veracity) of 0.9r = 1 in other complex calculations.
/Edit
And that, lady's and gentlefolk, is why I normally lie in on Sunday mornings