ST Alpha - "it's perfectly expressed. .333..... means you take the 3s out to infinity." (Reading a Post)

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In response to "I'd just say that there are somethings that can't be perfectly expressed in the decimal system -- nm" by crash davis

it's perfectly expressed. .333..... means you take the 3s out to infinity.

Posted by Reagen (aka Reagen) Mar 5 '10, 12:57

if you want .333, you write that. If you want .333.... then you write that.
(or more properly .3"bar", but it's not a common keyboard symbol)

Responses:

.333 does not equal 1/3. It does conceptually, but not precisely. - JaxSean Mar 5, 13:00 5
- maybe this is the problem: .333 != .333.... - Reagen Mar 5, 13:03 3
  - I understand. I just neglected the ... - JaxSean Mar 5, 13:05 2
    - but you can't and mean the same thing. -- nm - Reagen Mar 5, 13:09 1
      - I think we'll all agree we're talking about "0.333...." in this string. -- nm - JaxSean Mar 5, 13:10
- [deleted]
but thats not perfect, because you don't get 1 when you multiply it by 3 -- nm - crash davis Mar 5, 12:59 14
- Yes you do, because .999.... = 1 :) -- nm - oblique Mar 5, 13:00 13
  - You can't argue that .9999... = 1 *because* .9999.... = 1. That's circular logic. - TWuG Mar 5, 13:03 8
    - we're not arguing "it is because it is". There's a couple proofs been offered. - Reagen Mar 5, 13:05 7
      - Yes. There. Is. It's just "infinitesimally small." -- nm - JaxSean Mar 5, 13:07 2
        
        but because infinity never stops, there is no difference. -- nm - Reagen Mar 5, 13:08 1
        
        there will always be a difference itss just getting idefinately smaller and smaller -- nm - Danedukenuuk Mar 5, 13:11
      - part of the problem I have is that you say "when you go out to infinity" like its a place you can stop at -- nm - crash davis Mar 5, 13:06 3
        
        Yeah. Infinity can never be reached. That .9 keeps trying to be 1, but it'll never arrive. It's like Zeno's Paradox. - TWuG Mar 5, 13:10
        
        No, it's an acknowledgement that it *can't* stop. -- nm - mara Mar 5, 13:08 1
        
        and thus it can never be equal, because the difference can't be stopped at either -- nm - crash davis Mar 5, 13:09
  - no, because there is always an infinitely small distance between them -- nm - crash davis Mar 5, 13:03
  - that's only true if the universe stops expanding -- nm - Beryllium Mar 5, 13:01
  - False. -- nm - JaxSean Mar 5, 13:01
  - *pop* -- nm - brains Mar 5, 13:01

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it's perfectly expressed. .333..... means you take the 3s out to infinity.

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