mathematical theory

Tommy B · 12 May 2007 at 19:57

We had this exact same argument at school yesterday.

We were trying to explain to someone that if you locked a monkey in a room with a typewriter for infinity, where the monkey randomly pushes the keys, he would write out the entire works of Shakespeare word perfect an infinite amount of times.

xsnv · 12 May 2007 at 19:58

iraiguana said:
you would have two halves of a sandwich. by definition of there being one original sandwich. split in half

thats one half of it though. Its a trick question. Without defining what a sandwich is the question doesn't have an answer...and makes no sense

Calder · 12 May 2007 at 19:59

Tommy B said:
We had this exact same argument at school yesterday.

We were trying to explain to someone that if you locked a monkey in a room with a typewriter for infinity, where the monkey randomly pushes the keys, he would write out the entire works of Shakespeare word perfect an infinite amount of times.

He would die of starvation. :confused:

xsnv · 12 May 2007 at 19:59

Tommy B said:
We had this exact same argument at school yesterday.

We were trying to explain to someone that if you locked a monkey in a room with a typewriter for infinity, where the monkey randomly pushes the keys, he would write out the entire works of Shakespeare word perfect an infinite amount of times.

lol...the monkey would be dead before then surely

xsnv · 12 May 2007 at 20:00

Calder said:
He would die of starvation.

Even if you fed it, it would die of old age!

daz · 12 May 2007 at 20:00

Poor monkeys being chained to typewriters for eternity.

PETA would be up in arms!

Tommy B · 12 May 2007 at 20:02

Calder said:
He would die of starvation.

That's not the point, it is just a way of explaining randomness to someone.

xsnv · 12 May 2007 at 20:08

Tommy B said:
That's not the point, it is just a way of explaining randomness to someone.

I thought we were trying to explain "infinity".

Calder · 12 May 2007 at 20:09

xsnv said:
I thought we were trying to explain "infinity".

I think the word he was looking for was probability, and the point being made was no matter the probability of something, it will happen eventually over an infinite space of time.

Psyk · 12 May 2007 at 20:14

Calder said:
I think the word he was looking for was probability, and the point being made was no matter the probability of something, it will happen eventually over an infinite space of time.

And according to quantum physics it's theoretically possible for Jessica Alba to suddenly appear in my bed. Although in practice the chance of any female being in my bed is negligible and considered a statistical impossibility.

Tommy B · 12 May 2007 at 20:17

xsnv said:
I thought we were trying to explain "infinity".

Infinity and randomness.

Please re-read my post.

Duff-Man · 12 May 2007 at 20:23

xsnv said:
Not true. Infinite sets exist and are a cornerstone of set thoery.

Yes - countably infinite and uncountably infinite sets.

They can be definied, but still through a limiting process.

wesley · 12 May 2007 at 20:55

time to unban alpha numeric?

The_Dark_Side · 12 May 2007 at 22:24

Tommy B said:
We were trying to explain to someone that if you locked a monkey in a room with a typewriter for infinity, where the monkey randomly pushes the keys, he would write out the entire works of Shakespeare word perfect an infinite amount of times.

or the complete works of Jeffrey Archer in an hour and ten minutes?

n3crius · 12 May 2007 at 22:30

Any number divided by zero is technically... infinity.

Think about it, and it'll make sense. It's impossible to reach this result in our reality so this is why we cannot allow a division by zero.

If you perform any division, if the second operand is below 1, the closer it gets to 0, the higher the result. Tending toward zero raises the result higher exponentially.

Funny when I was studying I always used to have this thought about dividing a number by 2, then dividing it again, and again, and again etc. I concluded that it would take an infinite amount of time to eventually get a result of 0, so you can never finish this operation.

NickK · 12 May 2007 at 22:49

Duff-Man said:
I can't be bothered explaining further, but trust me - I did maths at Cambridge
oh, and 0.9999... = 1, whether you guys want to accept it or not

And look what happened to the last cambridge maths student that stated 0.9999... = 1.. BAN HIM!

So by that means 1/infinity is also undefined?

Calder · 12 May 2007 at 22:57

NickK said:
And look what happened to the last cambridge maths student that stated 0.9999... = 1.. BAN HIM!

So by that means 1/infinity is also undefined?

Yes, it's stated as: if y = 1/x, as x -> infinity y -> 0.

The graph of 1/x:

It never reaches x=0 and never reaches y=0 (known as an asymptote) because 1/0 and 1/infinity are undefined.

Duff-Man · 12 May 2007 at 23:09

NickK said:
So by that means 1/infinity is also undefined?

Well, you can't define infinity in a closed way, to place it in an expression like that. So yes, that expression would be undefined.

What you CAN state is that:

1/x --> 0 as x --> infinity.

edit - why was alphanumeric banned anyway? I missed that particular drama. Surely it wasn't because of that thread?

Sleepy · 12 May 2007 at 23:28

Duff-Man said:
edit - why was alphanumeric banned anyway? I missed that particular drama. Surely it wasn't because of that thread?

Drugs are bad ... mmkay

SpeedFreak · 12 May 2007 at 23:32

wesley said:
time to unban alpha numeric?

He was banned? Missed that one, Mathematicians eh