Infinity (1 Viewer)

Aquawhite

Retiring
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
4,946
Location
Gold Coast
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Uni Grad
2013
Infinity - Says it all. It is the endless, infinite (lol) and amazing character and mathematical term/symbol. What does infinity mean to you? Have you ever been confronted by something infinite or had to use the concept in a mathematical equation?

P.S. Please do not try to describe infinity in numbers :D...
 

gurmies

Drover
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
1,209
Location
North Bondi
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Limits to infinity are often encountered - from my experience in curve sketching and finding horizontal assymptotes. What strikes me as fascinating is that there are an infinite array of numbers between 1 and 2 and between 1 and 100...etc.
 

shaon0

...
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
2,029
Location
Guess
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Limits to infinity are often encountered - from my experience in curve sketching and finding horizontal assymptotes. What strikes me as fascinating is that there are an infinite array of numbers between 1 and 2 and between 1 and 100...etc.
In integration, you can integrate to infinite
 

Trebla

Administrator
Administrator
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
8,393
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
Infinity - Says it all. It is the endless, infinite (lol) and amazing character and mathematical term/symbol. What does infinity mean to you? Have you ever been confronted by something infinite or had to use the concept in a mathematical equation?
According to someone, approaching asymptotically to infinity is like dying without actually hitting death LOL :p
 

tommykins

i am number -e^i*pi
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
5,730
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
Infinite is a paradox. (or infinity)

There is countable infinites, and uncountable infinites.

One bigger than the other.
 

Omium

Knuckles
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
1,738
Location
Physics
Gender
Male
HSC
2007
Trying to grasp the concept of infinity is very difficult.

Imagine Infinite time....
 

prime-factor

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Messages
212
Location
Brisbane
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Infinity as has been echoed earlier is extremely useful for its countless mathematical purposes.

I think that being exposed to a reality where nearly everything one can think approaches a finite existence is the reason why comprehending something infinite is so mind-boggling.

I think viewing it as a concept is the real key here, as opposed to contemplating it's existence.
 

5647382910

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
135
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
my maths teacher asked me this
How many numbers between 1 and 2.... i answer infinity
then... how many numbers between 1 and 100.... infinity???
apparently not.. he says some infinities are bigger than others
 

Templar

P vs NP
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
1,979
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
my maths teacher asked me this
How many numbers between 1 and 2.... i answer infinity
then... how many numbers between 1 and 100.... infinity???
apparently not.. he says some infinities are bigger than others
There are infinities bigger than others (in fact, given an infinity, you can always construct a bigger one). However, your teacher is wrong: the cardinality of numbers between 1 and 2 is the same as 1 and 100.

The problem is that you have no knowledge of the formal definition of what infinity is, and this makes infinity tricky to deal with.
 

Js^-1

No tengo pantelonès
Joined
Oct 14, 2007
Messages
318
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
There are infinities bigger than others (in fact, given an infinity, you can always construct a bigger one). However, your teacher is wrong: the cardinality of numbers between 1 and 2 is the same as 1 and 100.

The problem is that you have no knowledge of the formal definition of what infinity is, and this makes infinity tricky to deal with.

But the cardinality of Real numbers is greater than the cardinality of Rational numbers? Right?
 

Templar

P vs NP
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
1,979
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
But the cardinality of Real numbers is greater than the cardinality of Rational numbers? Right?
Yes, but the cardinality of real numbers between any two numbers is the same.
 

gibbo153

buff member
Joined
Sep 18, 2008
Messages
1,370
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
i win times infinity plus one more than whatever you say
 

Uncle

Banned
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
3,265
Location
Retirement Village of Alaska
Gender
Male
HSC
2007
Infinity can be used as a limit of integration.
I once used integration from zero to infinity as a limit to determinte the average height of particle from the ground to an infinite point in space which depended on its mass, the acceleration due to gravity and temperature.
And thus I will make the world whole again.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top