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Re: infinity can't exist
Posted:
Feb 12, 2013 1:24 PM
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Craig Feinstein <cafeinst@msn.com> wrote in
news:13c1e093-ab86-45e6-9417-7526eb422a08@googlegroups.com:
> Let's say I have a drawer of an infinite number of identical socks at
> time zero. I take out one of the socks at time one. Then the contents
> of the drawer at time zero is identical to the contents of the drawer
> at time one, since all of the socks are identical and there are still
> an infinite number of them in the drawer at both times. But the
> contents of the drawer at time zero is also identical to the contents
> of the drawer at time one plus the sock that was taken out, since they
> are exactly the same material. So we have the equations:
>
> Contents of drawer at time 0 = Contents of drawer at time 1
> Contents of drawer at time 0 = (Contents of drawer at time 1) plus
> (sock taken out of drawer).
>
> Subtracting the equations, we get
>
> Nothing = sock taken out of drawer.
>
> This is false, so infinity cannot exist.
>
> How does modern mathematics resolve this paradox?
>
By means of limits. Infinity minus infinity is an indeterminate
form, and no said that the rules of finite arithmetic apply to
non-finite things. We invented limits to deal with non-finite things.
B.
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