From: doetnietcomputeren on
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
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.

--
d.

From: Krusty on
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
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
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.