this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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Math Humor

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[–] odium@programming.dev 136 points 2 years ago (3 children)

A small part of my soul dies everytime I see "I'm" used that way

[–] moody@lemmings.world 95 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Most folk'll never eat a skunk, but then again some folk'll

[–] odium@programming.dev 45 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

You probably think you'll never feel bad for saying that, but one of these nights, staying up late, thinking about the things you said and done, you'll.

[–] shundi82@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Like Cletus, the slack jawed yokel.

[–] lingh0e@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Some folk'll never lose a toe, but then again some folk'll...

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Whats goin' on over here on this side?

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 37 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Here's a Tom Scott video that explains why that doesn't work in English: https://youtu.be/CkZyZFa5qO0?si=TqDXKLcbMF_qfofG

[–] thomas@lemmy.ca 40 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

As he said, it doesn't work in English ... until enough people does it that it becomes acceptable.

[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] null@slrpnk.net 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] octoperson@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 years ago
[–] odium@programming.dev 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] candybrie@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

Any living language. Don't tell France though.

[–] KaleDaddy@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago
[–] porkins@sh.itjust.works 53 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Because it’s not .333, it’s .333… or 1/3 and it’s not .999, it’s .999…, which is the same as 1 🫠. Primes and fractions are weird.

[–] areyouevenreal@lemm.ee 81 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The fun thing is this is just a consequence of how we write numbers. If you used base 12 1/3 would be 0.4. Obviously 0.4 + 0.4 + 0.4 in base 12 is 1.0, so 3 x 0.4 = 1

What's even more fun is that things like 1/5 or 1/10 are recurring decimals in base 12.

[–] Mnemnosyne@sh.itjust.works 44 points 2 years ago

You know, this explanation makes it make sense to me a lot more than most of the others I've ever gotten.

[–] MxM111@kbin.social 20 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I don’t get it. Are you saying the knife is clean?

[–] porkins@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 years ago

Yes. The knife is clean if we are cutting exact thirds. As one other user mentioned, base-10 doesn’t allow prime fractions to be conveyed cleanly, so we use repeating decimals to imply that it is a fraction.

[–] ieightpi@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Either we live in a world where .333 is correct or we live in a world where knives come out clean when cutting a cake. We can't have both

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

So that's a no on the infinite cake universe?

Lame.

[–] Caitlynn@feddit.de 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It's a flaw in how we decribe our numbers

[–] myslsl@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

It's not even really a flaw. Just a property. In some sense we've lost the property of uniqueness of decimal representations of numbers that we had with other sets of numbers like integers. In another sense we gain alternate representations for our numbers that may be preferrable (for example 1=1.000... but also 1=0.999...).

[–] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Flaw is a bit harsh. Periodic, infinite decimals happen because the denominator is not a multiple of the prime factors of the base and thus will exist in any base.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Infinity is not a number and even if you would use it as a base, you couldn't represent anything other than infinity in a meaningful way.

Infinity^0 is indeterminate and infinity^x with x>0 is exactly infinity.

[–] communistcapy 48 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] funnystuff97@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What a strange language we've.

[–] GregorTacTac@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Did you watch tom scott's video on this?Its's really good.

[–] funnystuff97@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] GregorTacTac@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

OK, I've to go now.

[–] elxeno@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago
[–] AlpineSteakHouse@hexbear.net 26 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Knowing that .999 repeating is equal to 1 is the math equivalent of finding out Santa isn't real.

[–] Masimatutu@mander.xyz 9 points 2 years ago

Huh, I found out in second grade and didn't think too much about it.

[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

This is actually a beautiful and concrete proof that 0.9... is equal to 1. Beautiful fuckery.

[–] TonyToniToneOfficial@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 years ago

I hate this

[–] 31415926535@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago

That might be a good description of xeno's paradox

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

This goes along well with the fact that everything is cake.

[–] dutchkimble@lemy.lol 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The main piece is what I'm calling all cakes that are not whole from now on

Edit - this got me thinking, once you've cut the first 0.333 piece and then you split the rest of the main piece in 2, who is the next side piece and who continues to hold the title of the main piece?

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Main piece is the one that stays on the tray.

[–] bingbong@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 years ago

Which one is the power bottom?

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Spelling, though? Not so much.

[–] lingh0e@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

No dude, it's a math joke. MATH.