a real paradox

[adrastos12]

So, I have a real mathematical paradox for the genius of NG.
Say your walking to the refrigerator that is 10 ft away. In order to get to the fridge, you must first cover a distance of 10 ft, but before that you must go 5 ft, and before that you must go 3.5 ft etc... Because distance is infinitely divisible, this means that you will have to reach an infinite number of points before you get to the fridge. So how is it possible to go between two points that have an infinite number of distances between them?
Perhaps movement is an illusion.

Discuss

[Gamepr020]

I am walking 10 feet to my fridge to get a cold soda in summer then walk 10 feet back to my couch not caring about what ever feet I walked to it.

[Sevkat]

I still don't understand what a paradox is...

/shame

[NeonFlame126]

Nothing is infinitely divisible. You can go from 1 to -infinity, yes, but when there are a set amount of numbers between 10 and 0, but no one wants to list them all. It would be an ass load of work, and too tedious to spend time on.

[creamsoda139]

That made NO sense.

[WeHaveFreshCookies]

At 5/11/09 07:00 PM, NeonFlame126 wrote: Nothing is infinitely divisible. You can go from 1 to -infinity, yes, but when there are a set amount of numbers between 10 and 0, but no one wants to list them all. It would be an ass load of work, and too tedious to spend time on.

This idea has been posted and refuted before.

Neonflame just refuted it again. And even if it couldn't be refuted, who cares? I'm able to get to my fridge, so why bother wondering how that's mathematically possible?

[Johnny-Coolguy]

You're thinking about it in mathematical terms. Think about it in physical terms, and it's simple.

You put one foot in front of the other...

[Porkchop]

Usually division takes place between two integers, or an equation to denote an integer. If one didnt specify what to divide what by, one could divide anything by anything and get it halved.

So, movement, 10 ft to your fridge.

You will cross 5 feet, and you will cross 2.5 ft.
You can keep halving them, but the 10ft mark wont increase. Your fridge isnt going anywhere, and as you keep halving them, you're gonna get closer to 10ft.

[adrastos12]

At 5/11/09 07:00 PM, NeonFlame126 wrote: Nothing is infinitely divisible. You can go from 1 to -infinity, yes, but when there are a set amount of numbers between 10 and 0, but no one wants to list them all. It would be an ass load of work, and too tedious to spend time on.

so your saying theres a limit on how small or large a decimal can be? go to math class...

In calculus there are what you would call limits, but it is for practical purposes because you can get so close to another number (1.9999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999 etc....) that it may as well be another number, BUT that does not mean that there is a limit to how small a number can be.

[Generalissimus]

I have two legs. I can walk 10 ft in one try. So what's the problem?

[NeverHundred]

At 5/11/09 06:54 PM, adrastos12 wrote: So, I have a real mathematical paradox for the genius of NG.

We have one of those now?

[Silent-G]

even if there are infinite points in between, the first two original points are still there, and they are still the same distance apart.

[kylenitz]

Objects are measured to be shortened in the direction that they are moving with respect to the observer.

[adrastos12]

At 5/11/09 07:08 PM, Generalissimus wrote: I have two legs. I can walk 10 ft in one try. So what's the problem?

the problem is, there is no limit to how small a measurement of distance can be, so in theory you are walking an infinite amount of space before you get to something 10 ft away

[NeonFlame126]

At 5/11/09 07:07 PM, adrastos12 wrote: so your saying theres a limit on how small or large a decimal can be? go to math class...

Go to kindergarten. If there's a beginning and an end, there's no possible way it can be infinite.

In calculus there are what you would call limits, but it is for practical purposes because you can get so close to another number (1.9999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999 etc....) that it may as well be another number, BUT that does not mean that there is a limit to how small a number can be.

Again, mathematicians aren't going to be assed to write out exactly how long a decimal is, so they make rounding, estimating, and guesstimating. We would still be in the stone age if anybody did things the right way, but humans are lazy and want answers now. We don't say light speed is the exact number of km per second light actually travels, we just say it goes 100,00km/s. Why? It's so much fucking easier that way.

[skatin-andy]

You are assuming that you must travel each of these distances individually. If you did have to travel between each of these points you are correct, you would not be able to cover any ground. But because we live at a much larger scale than the infinitely small distances you are describing, we move between two points that are farther part and are thus able to move.

Or to put it another way, the distances become so small that it is impossible for us to move only that distance. We will move a greater distance and move across several points, which leads to moving between two distant points.

[Brick-top]

Is there such a thing as infinite? Nothing in the universe has been infinite thus far.

[Silent-G]

At 5/11/09 07:18 PM, Brick-top wrote: Is there such a thing as infinite? Nothing in the universe has been infinite thus far.

how do you know, have you been around that long?

[XenonMonkey]

At 5/11/09 06:58 PM, Sevkat wrote: I still don't understand what a paradox is...

/shame

A paradox is a statement that if false is true, and if is true is false.

for example "this sentence is a lie" if it was true, the sentence wouldn't be a lie making it false but then if it is false it would be true which goes on with no end

[Brick-top]

At 5/11/09 07:44 PM, Silent-G wrote:

At 5/11/09 07:18 PM, Brick-top wrote: Is there such a thing as infinite? Nothing in the universe has been infinite thus far.

how do you know, have you been around that long?

I wasn't around during world war two either but I know it happened.

Flawed logic debunked.

[Zerok]

You speak of Zeno's Paradox(es).

There's a nice thread in Politics that addresses them if you're interested in non-General blather (search: "zenos").

[TheLameSauce]

and yet, i get my drink easily. thus proving that philosophy is fucking stupid and a waste of one's time.

[PWJP]

as long as i get my cold soda, i don't fucking care about the distance.

[Arctic-Zone]

You don't have to walk the whole 10 feet. You just walk a certain distance and open up the fridge with extended arms.

[ragingfred]

Counterpoint 1
if the distance is infinitely divisible that means the divided distances would get infinitely small meaning that it would cover 0, since infinitely towards 0 is 0.

counterpoint 2
you still walk a total of 10 feet whether it's 10 feet at once, one foot 10 times, 0.1 feet 100 times, etc.

[HeartbreakHoldout]

Time is proportional to distance. So when the length of an interval gets smaller, so does the time taken to travel the interval.
It just tends to zero as the interval tends to zero, and so Zeno is foiled again.

[MultiCanimefan]

At 5/11/09 08:19 PM, HeartbreakHoldout wrote: Time is proportional to distance. So when the length of an interval gets smaller, so does the time taken to travel the interval.

Doesn't this assume that you're traveling at the same speed? Shortening the distance between interval A to interval B doesn't automatically assure us that we'll arrive faster. Suppose the distance is indeed shortened, but in traversing said distance, we go slower instead of going the same speed as before the distance was shortened.

[HeartbreakHoldout]

At 5/11/09 08:29 PM, MultiCanimefan wrote: Doesn't this assume that you're traveling at the same speed? Shortening the distance between interval A to interval B doesn't automatically assure us that we'll arrive faster. Suppose the distance is indeed shortened, but in traversing said distance, we go slower instead of going the same speed as before the distance was shortened.

Then it would depend entirely on the rate at which you slow your speed, and and the length of the interval relative to this.
In this circumstance, it's entirely possible not to reach the end point, but it's no paradox. It's deceleration.

[Butt-Blast]

Here's a paradox, linking to the second page of this thread on page one.

Page two

[Bassanova-001]

At 5/11/09 07:03 PM, Johnny-Coolguy wrote: You're thinking about it in mathematical terms. Think about it in physical terms, and it's simple.

You put one foot in front of the other...

I second this.