From: doetnietcomputeren on 11 Feb 2010 05:17 On 2010-02-11 11:14:48 +0100, "Krusty" <dontwantany(a)nowhere.invalid> said: > As in last night's Horizon on Beeb2. I managed to get my head around > most of it (although I still don't believe the monkey Shakespeare > thing), but the hotel theory is beyond me. > > For those who didn't see it, the theory is that a hotel with an > infinite number of rooms, all of which are full (therefore an infinite > number of people), will always be able to find you a room. seems reasonable. > The explanation they gave was that the person in room 1 could move into > room 2, & the person in room 2 could move into room 3 etc etc, freeing > up room 1 for you. Or, continue adding rooms as necessary. > A night's sleep hasn't helped me understand that. > Doesn't it imply there is such a thing as infinity +1, More like there's the current number of rooms +infinity > in which case > infinity must be a finite number? Otherwise infinity +1 will always be > less than infinity, which means there still won't be a spare room. As I said, switch the logic - there's an amount of rooms that you have the ability to endlessly add to. -- Dnc
From: darsy on 11 Feb 2010 05:21 On Feb 11, 10:14 am, "Krusty" <dontwant...(a)nowhere.invalid> wrote: > As in last night's Horizon on Beeb2. I managed to get my head around > most of it (although I still don't believe the monkey Shakespeare > thing), but the hotel theory is beyond me. go and google Transfinite numbers or ZermeloFraenkel set theory, and see if your head explodes. -- d.
From: Krusty on 11 Feb 2010 05:23 doetnietcomputeren wrote: > On 2010-02-11 11:14:48 +0100, "Krusty" <dontwantany(a)nowhere.invalid> > said: > > > As in last night's Horizon on Beeb2. I managed to get my head around > > most of it (although I still don't believe the monkey Shakespeare > > thing), but the hotel theory is beyond me. > > > > For those who didn't see it, the theory is that a hotel with an > > infinite number of rooms, all of which are full (therefore an > > infinite number of people), will always be able to find you a room. > > seems reasonable. > > > The explanation they gave was that the person in room 1 could move > > into room 2, & the person in room 2 could move into room 3 etc etc, > > freeing up room 1 for you. > > Or, continue adding rooms as necessary. You can't add rooms if there's already an infinite number of them. That's the problem. And if you /can/ add rooms, why not just put you in one of the newly added ones, rather than making everyone else move? > > > A night's sleep hasn't helped me understand that. > > Doesn't it imply there is such a thing as infinity +1, > > More like there's the current number of rooms +infinity Infinity + infinity + infinity + infinity is no bigger than infinity. -- Krusty '03 Tiger 955i '02 MV Senna '96 Tiger (for sale) '79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)
From: Krusty on 11 Feb 2010 05:30 darsy wrote: > On Feb 11, 10:14�am, "Krusty" <dontwant...(a)nowhere.invalid> wrote: > > As in last night's Horizon on Beeb2. I managed to get my head around > > most of it (although I still don't believe the monkey Shakespeare > > thing), but the hotel theory is beyond me. > > go and google Transfinite numbers or Zermelo�Fraenkel set theory, and > see if your head explodes. I think they covered a bit of that, & my head's still in one piece. -- Krusty '03 Tiger 955i '02 MV Senna '96 Tiger (for sale) '79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)
From: ginge on 11 Feb 2010 05:31
On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:23:00 +0000 (UTC), "Krusty" <dontwantany(a)nowhere.invalid> wrote: >> More like there's the current number of rooms +infinity > >Infinity + infinity + infinity + infinity is no bigger than infinity. How about taking a less quantity centric view. Numbers are like water, in that you can measure the amount and contain them within a structure. Infinity is like fire, you know it's there, but you can't measure it using the same standards. There - problem solved. |