🚀 go-pugleaf

berrpm@aur.alcatel.com (Patrick M. Berry) writes:

>In article <333fb739.18406442@news.mindspring.com>, equus@mindspring.com writes:
>> On Wed, 26 Mar 1997 18:35:54 -0800, Mark Simpson
>> <marksimpson@sprintmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>K,
>> >Here's another one for all to ponder.
>> >In order to travel from point A to point B, one must first travel 1/2
>> >the distance.  In order to travel half way, you must first travel 1/4 of
>> >the way, etc., etc., etc. In mathematical terms, the denominator
>> >approaches infinity and we know that you can't travel an infinite
>> >distance in a finite amount of time, therefore all motion is impossible.
>> 
>> 1/ infinity isn't infinity.

>No, it's zero -- implying that you would travel zero distance in less than
>an infinite amount of time.  At least that's what I think he was trying to
>say.

>The fallacy in all this, of course, is that the universe isn't infinitely 
>divisible.  For example, there's no way to travel half the diameter of an
>electron.

I beg to differ!

The fallacy is that
(*) 1 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ... 


To travel say 1m with a speed of 1 m/s you first have to spend
1/2 a second travellling 1/2 a meter, then 1/4 of a second to
travel 1/4 meter and so on.

but since (*), we have that in only 1 second you have travelled
1 meter.

If you disagree, or I haven't explained myself clearly enough
please consult a math book for zenon's paradox.

Soeren

-- 
*****Soeren Kongstad. Student of Math and Computer science*******