this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
171 points (97.2% liked)
Science Memes
20337 readers
2032 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I get the physics one but not the math one
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.
I believe you, but that made about as much sense to me as when Wesley saves the ship by reversing the polarity of the navigational deflector array.
Ahhhh Ramanujan summation. The Forsythe plausabilities but with regards to polynumerstatistical deprecations. Hortense Guildmeier is rolling in his grave!
Those are words
I'm not sure they are!
I am a wordologist, and those are definitely probably words.
I've heard those words! Er, I mean, I've heard words!
https://leightonvw.com/2015/02/05/if-you-add-up-all-the-positive-numbers-do-they-sum-to-a-negative-number-yes-they-do/
Feels like a risky click. I'm not sure my worldview can take any more shattering. It's already shattered I tell you. SHATTERED.
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.
Actually, the Numberphile video is notorious for lacking mathematical rigor. Mathologer did a video on it. IMO, it's really really important to explain the difference between what's going on here (assigning a number to a divergent series) and what we ordinarily do (computing the limit of a sequence of partial sums).
There was a full on mathematical war on YouTube, with numberphile coming back later to show that most partial sum methods also end up at -1/12.
As a science nerd, mathologer basically just took the camp of "old concensus" and gave no other argument than "this is alien math, nope, I don't like it". It just felt like mathologer was Pythagoras fighting against irrational numbers...
There have been some claims that the numberphile video is very misrepresentative of the underlying math. But I never dug deep enough into it.