I get the physics one but not the math one
$1$
Submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/e2eb0e4d-f03f-4b26-acc6-c4374cf41426.png
Comments
RustyNova@lemmy.world 2 months ago
PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@anarchist.nexus 2 months ago
The math one uses the fact that 1 + 2 + 3 + … “=” -1/12, where the equality is in the sense of Ramanujan summation. Classically, the series diverges, so using the equality sign is a bit deceptive. However, in some contexts, it is meaningful to assign a sum to divergent series.
HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Ahhhh Ramanujan summation. The Forsythe plausabilities but with regards to polynumerstatistical deprecations. Hortense Guildmeier is rolling in his grave!
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
That made about as much sense to me as when Wesley saves the ship by reversing the polarity of the navigational deflector array.
cAUzapNEAGLb@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Klear@piefed.world 2 months ago
Oh, good. There’s a Numberphile video on it linked at the end. That gives me much better odds of understanding this than just reading the article.
khannie@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Feels like a risky click. I’m not sure my worldview can take any more shattering. It’s already shattered I tell you. SHATTERED.
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
And that -1/12 bs is why I cannot math.
1+2+3 … tends toward infinity and there’s no amount of playing with numbers will convince me otherwise.
bort@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
And that -1/12 bs is why I cannot math.
it’s not actually math. It’s people coming up with alternative definitions and then feeling smug when their alternative definitions give weird results.
PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@anarchist.nexus 2 months ago
it’s not actually math.
It literally is math tho
It’s people coming up with alternative definitions and then feeling smug when their alternative definitions give weird results.
Yeah because these weird definitions might be useful in some other context.
Maturin@hexbear.net 2 months ago
1+2+3… absolutely diverges to infinity. In order to get the -1/12 result you have to explicitly suspend the normal rules governing math in very specific ways. Some YouTubers for clickbait effect pretend that you are not suspending the rules to get that result. However, suspending the rules in the ways that allow for -1/12 demonstrates all these patterns that are also cool if you are a big enough nerd to think number manipulation like that is cool.
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
i stop at 0.999… == 1 thanks :)
TwilightKiddy@programming.dev 2 months ago
Hello, I play with numbers:
1+2+3+...=S S-S=1+2+3+4+... -1-2-3-...= 1+1+1+1+...=S-S=0
Moral of the story: ones together are nothing.
Thank you for your attention.
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
let me hand you a tissue, looks like you got some ‘stuff’ in your text box
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
lol 1-1, 2-2 etc.
How do you get 1 + 2-1?
You need to distribute that minus sign to all numbers in the sequence. You can’t leave off the first one.
bmpvy@piefed.social 2 months ago
Me, having dyscalculia: ok
crwth@piefed.zip 2 months ago
I had a student tasked with summing a finite geometric sequence with |r|>1, let’s say 1+2+4+8+16. He had apparently forgotten the formula for that, but knew the formula for the infinite series a/(1-r). Good enough he thinks, and sums 1+2+4+… = -1, then subtracts off the excess terms 32+64+128+… = -32, and gets the correct answer of 31.
Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 2 months ago
It is actually a completely correct calculation if you work in p-adic numbers or formal power series.
crwth@piefed.zip 2 months ago
Indeed, and would have earned full marks had he said that, or even showed any awareness that his intermediate results were somehow nonstandard.
PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@anarchist.nexus 2 months ago
You gotta make sure those tricky infinite mathematicians buy an absolutely convergent series of beers before you sell them 🍺
lime@feddit.nu 2 months ago
…but only three of them ordered beers
Nima@leminal.space 2 months ago
i thought the first one ended with “after 4 orders the bartender says ‘you guys suck’ and pours two beers.”
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 2 months ago
This bar’s pricing makes no sense whatsoever. One beer is $1. One and 3/4 beers is also $1. Maybe they round down? Then, everybody should order 0.9999… beer, except that for some reason seventy-two beers is -$1? Weird.
sepiroth154@feddit.nl 2 months ago
They mean that the sequences go on forever, but the joke definitely doesn’t make that clear.
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 2 months ago
Too subtle a joke, I guess. The description is just missing “and so on.” But the “and so on” is the crux of the bullshit in the mathematical “proof” referenced.
Objection@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Image
MoffKalast@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The most realistic part of this joke is that the barman is also a mathematician, probably after they did not qualify for any phd research grant.
Eq0@literature.cafe 2 months ago
Ouch!
Nurgus@lemmy.world 2 months ago
On behalf of British pub goers, a half is a perfectly normal thing to order. :p