We have epic nerd battles. I've seen it come to blows.
Want to start one?
Tell them that they are wrong and 0.999... =/= 1.
They will go on about limits, sets, number theory, and even show you proofs. Ignore that.
Tell them to write 0.999... (the ... means repeating to infinity) on the board and you'll give them a dollar when it hits a whole number.
Best day ever, if you can get them to fight among themselves.
And yeah, I'm familiar with Dr. Wildberger's work. It's not strictly novel but I could see it irking people. One of my other favorites is that Pi is wrong! You should stop by the mathemagician sub sometime. You might get a kick out of some of the stuff that gets posted.
[–] mineMineMINE [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I saw the pi is wrong = 4. Funny stuff.
Never thought about throwing out a dollar to get them to write like that, obviously they won't, but that's still funny. Sad day when people don't know how to accept that views are not the same. Although I have to agree with you on the 0.9... the whole argument comes down to too much meta about an operation ( / ) which never comes to an end in base 10. Really, just switch to a separate base and you can't run this argument. But, whatever. Oh god, now I'm spouting about this in my head, it's a virus (BASES, SWITCH TO BASE 9 YOU HAVE NO ARGUMENT - SHUT UP BRAIN).
[–] TheBuddha ago
Oh, shit... Sorry for blowing up your inbox - but look up Tau Manifesto. That's what I speak of when I say Pi is wrong. According to them, it's not wrong, per se, it's stupid and wasteful. They suggest Tau instead of Pi. It kind of makes sense, from my reading.
[–] TheBuddha ago
https://voat.co/v/Mathemagician/2251730
See that thread and the link that it goes to! I knew I'd find it. ;-)
[–] TheBuddha ago
The truth of the matter is that 0.999... = 1 AND I can prove it. It's also bullshit - but it has to be true, else the whole thing collapses.
Here's a quick essay that I wrote a week back:
http://thebuddha.ml/2017/11/28/0-333-%e2%89%a0-1-3/
If it didn't work, then we'd have some serious math problems. However, anyone that tells you 0.999... = 1, tell them they're a liar and that you have the word of Dr. TheBuddha to go on - and that he gives you permission to call them a liar.
I use these things to demonstrate that math is not some higher magic or wizardry, that it's just an expressive language that's best used for expressing the philosophy of logicism. I am considered a heretic amongst other mathematicians - and many of them actually like it but a few of them will get REALLY upset when you tell them that you don't have to obey the rules.
It's a language. It tells lies, truths, stories, and more. It's even devious in how it tells some lies. There's nothing special about it. It's not the language of the universe. It's not a universal language (so far as we know). It's not even universal among all humans. Very few people speak the language of math. Most never get beyond learning arithmetic by rote - and don't even like that.