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[–] 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.