Outer Space

[Shino]

There is no ammount of infinite. There's only one infinite and the term infinite itself doesn't fit in anyone's mind. But that theory makes some sense. Well, it's just a theory.

 

As always with you, we end up discussing semantics instead of the actual issue.

[Daft]

Isn't there a 'big' infinity and a 'small' infinity. The former being numbers counting on endlessly and the 'small' infinity being fractional. (This is all one massive question. I have no idea.)

 

So basically a 'small' infinity would be that example of trying to leave a room. To get to the door you have to walk to the point half way between you and the door. To get to that position, you have to walk to the point half way between you and the point half way between you and the door. So on and so forth.

 

...Does this make sense...

 

Probably not.

[MoogleViper]

So basically a 'small' infinity would be that example of trying to leave a room. To get to the door you have to walk to the point half way between you and the door. To get to that position, you have to walk to the point half way between you and the point half way between you and the door. So on and so forth.

 

That's infinitely small. And yes you explained it correctly (albeit strangely). It would have been easier to say take the number 1, half it you get 0.5, again you get 0.25,... continue and you get a number that tends towards 0 but never reaches it.

Edited August 12, 2009 by MoogleViper

[Daft]

It just like the idea it is impossible to leave a room. Although it isn't.

 

I'm a visual person.

[Shino]

I think this is what you were saying.

 

Limit (mathematics)

[Daft]

That wiki page is beyond me. Found what I had in mind,

 

Zeno's_paradoxes

 

'Motion is nothing but an illusion.' I like that idea.

[Gizmo]

Isn't there a 'big' infinity and a 'small' infinity. The former being numbers counting on endlessly and the 'small' infinity being fractional. (This is all one massive question. I have no idea.)

 

So basically a 'small' infinity would be that example of trying to leave a room. To get to the door you have to walk to the point half way between you and the door. To get to that position, you have to walk to the point half way between you and the point half way between you and the door. So on and so forth.

 

...Does this make sense...

 

Probably not.

 

Thats the most convoluted description of half life I've ever seen

[Platty]

Isn't there a 'big' infinity and a 'small' infinity. The former being numbers counting on endlessly and the 'small' infinity being fractional. (This is all one massive question. I have no idea.)

 

So basically a 'small' infinity would be that example of trying to leave a room. To get to the door you have to walk to the point half way between you and the door. To get to that position, you have to walk to the point half way between you and the point half way between you and the door. So on and so forth.

 

...Does this make sense...

 

Probably not.

 

I think my brain just exploded......

[Gizmo]

That wiki page is beyond me. Found what I had in mind,

 

Zeno's_paradoxes

 

'Motion is nothing but an illusion.' I like that idea.

 

The stupidity and rubbishness of these "paradoxes" hurt me a little inside.

[Daft]

Thats the most convoluted description of half life I've ever seen

 

Convoluted?

 

...Yeah, I'm tend to have that effect.

[Mr_Odwin]

Infinite can be big or large according to my physics teacher. Imagine all even numbers above 0. There are an infinite number of them. Then imagine both all equal and unequal numbers above 0. There are still an infinite amount, but it's a bigger infinite number than the other.

 

There are two different types of infinite, uncountably and countably; but odd natural numbers, even natural numbers and natural numbers are all countable. There is mapping from every natural number to a unique odd natural number.

 

1->3

2->5

3->7

4->9

5->11

6->13

7->14

.->.

.->.

.->.

n->2n+1

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

There are two different types of infinite, uncountably and countably; but odd natural numbers, even natural numbers and natural numbers are all countable. There is mapping from every natural number to a unique odd natural number.

 

1->3

2->5

3->7

4->9

5->11

6->13

7->14

.->.

.->.

.->.

n->2n+1

That made next to no sense to me what so ever, however I do think I can imagine the idea of countable and uncountable infinites. Still, this leaves some explaining for my physics teacher to do ... ¬_¬

[Gizmo]

Reminds me of an old 0.999...= 1 proof.

 

0.999... = 1

 

let 0.999... = x

(*100) (*10)

99.999... = 100x 9.999...=10x

 

100x - 10x = 90x

99.999... - 9.999... = 90

90x = 90

x = 1

 

hence 0.999...= x = 1

 

Basically abusing infinite, by multiplying by ten and moving a zero across the decimal point, without removing a zero from the other side.

 

Edit: While I'm on it, I've got a couple other mathematical "paradoxes". Cookie to the first one to explain them.

 

]1 = 2

1 * 0 = 0

2 * 0 = 0

0 = 0

hence

1 = 2

 

(Laws of logs state that log a of 1 = 0 and log a of a = 1)

Let a = 1

 

log 1 of 1 = 0

log 1 of 1 = 1

log 1 of 1 = log 1 of 1

hence

0 = 1

Edited August 13, 2009 by Gizmo

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Reminds me of an old 0.999...= 1 proof.

 

 

 

Basically abusing infinite, by multiplying by ten and moving a zero across the decimal point, without removing a zero from the other side.

 

Edit: While I'm on it, I've got a couple other mathematical "paradoxes". Cookie to the first one to explain them.

I can't figure out what's wrong with the 99.99... one, and it's bugging me. Would you mind explaining it for a slower mind?

 

About the first "proof", using zero is not allowed, is it? I can't explain why, really, but it obviously gives wrong results.

[Daft]

Scientists Have Discovered A Very Strange Giant, Puffy, Backwards-Orbiting Planet

 

 

It's a pretty solid rule: in most planetary systems, as in our own Solar System, planets orbit their central star in the same direction as that star's rotation. But researchers have recently found a glaring, 100,000 kilometer wide exception.

 

In nearly every other observed planetary system, the planets spin around the star the same direction as the star itself is spinning. This is because, scientists believe, both the stars themselves and their planets are formed from the same rotating gas clouds, leaving them all spinning in the same direction as that original cloud.

 

There are exceptions to this general rule, but those are caused by gravitational interference pushing the planets into orbits at very strange angles. A brush with another planet or large gravity source can cause the aligned orbit to push into a strange angle. And the team that discovered this strange new planet, dubbed WASP-17b, wanted to blame this mechanism again.

 

But gravitational interference might be a bit of a stretch here: the planet's orbit is 150 degrees opposed, or almost directly opposite, the star's rotation. It'd take a pretty significant gravitational shove to get this much of a difference.

 

WASP-17b is notable for a couple of other reasons, too, all described in a paper submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. WASP-17b is possibly the largest yet discovered exo-planet, at twice the width of Jupiter. It's also pretty light, at only half of Jupiter's mass. That leaves the planet with a consistency similar to polystyrene, a light, puffed up ball of mostly nothing.The research team thinks this might be an effect of its very close (7 million kilometers), very quick (only 3.7 days) orbit yanking materials around inside the body and deforming it into this weird puffy planet.

 

The planet is, to say the least, really strange, compared to what scientists have seen before. But such discoveries remind us that we've only seen a very, very small percentage of what exists in the rest of the universe. Maybe what we have deemed to be "normal" isn't normal, but just what we are used to.

 

http://io9.com/5336772/scientists-have-discovered-a-very-strange-giant-puffy-backwards+orbiting-planet

 

Cool.

 

A Stay Puft Marshmallow Planet.

[Gizmo]

I can't figure out what's wrong with the 99.99... one, and it's bugging me. Would you mind explaining it for a slower mind?

 

About the first "proof", using zero is not allowed, is it? I can't explain why, really, but it obviously gives wrong results.

 

Well the .9 recurring one I kinda explained underneath it. It's taking advantage of the endlessness of infinite. Usually, when you multiply by 10, you move the decimal place up one: so 1.234 becomes 12.34. When you do that to reucrring number, a digit moves in front of the decimal point, but there are still going to be "infinite" numbers trailing back. So essentially, I've brought an extra digit into existance.

 

See it here: 9.990 - 0.999 is 8.991. If we make both of those recurring, it becomes 9. That zero moving from the front to the back is what doesn't happen with infinite, it just changes one 0 to a 9, so you've made that 9 appear from nowhere, causing the paradox.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Well the .9 recurring one I kinda explained underneath it. It's taking advantage of the endlessness of infinite. Usually, when you multiply by 10, you move the decimal place up one: so 1.234 becomes 12.34. When you do that to reucrring number, a digit moves in front of the decimal point, but there are still going to be "infinite" numbers trailing back. So essentially, I've brought an extra digit into existance.

 

See it here: 9.990 - 0.999 is 8.991. If we make both of those recurring, it becomes 9. That zero moving from the front to the back is what doesn't happen with infinite, it just changes one 0 to a 9, so you've made that 9 appear from nowhere, causing the paradox.

Ah, I think I understand now.

[Cube]

Cool.

 

A Stay Puft Marshmallow Planet.

 

It's cool, but I wouldn't call it "strange" yet. It's just different from the tiny sample we have so far. Our solar system is just as "strange" as that puffy planet.

[Dog-amoto]

I think this thread is going a little off subject, so here's another pretty picture

 

 

Sunset on Mars

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Reminds of Tatooine. Albeit a monosolar Tatooine.

[dwarf]

Bumpety.

 

Funny article by Brooker that sort of relates to space and his confusion:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/07/charlie-brooker

 

The human brain isn't equipped to house thoughts of this humbling enormity. Whenever I read a science article that nonchalantly describes the big bang, or some similarly dizzying reference to the staggering size and age and unknowable magnitude of everything, I feel like a sprite in an outdated platform game desperately straining to comprehend the machine code that put me there, even though that isn't my job: my job is to jump between two moving clouds and land feet-first on a mushroom without ever questioning why.

Brilliant.

[Daft]

I already posted this in the photo thread a week or so back but it's so stunning I'm going to post it again here.

 

 

Just one minute before midnight EDT, Friday, August 28, the Space Shuttle Discovery began a long arc into a cloudy sky. Following the launch, a bright and remarkably colorful trail was captured in this time exposure from the Banana River Viewing Site, looking east toward pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. On STS-128, Discovery docked with the International Space Station Sunday evening. The 13-day mission will exchange space station crew members and deliver more than 7 tons of supplies and equipment. Of course, the equipment includes the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).

[Serebii]

Holy crap, that's beautiful

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Looks like something out of this world. Amazing.