Questions tagged [infinity]
Use for questions about the properties, nature, or definition of infinitude.
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Infinity is not a number
So I've been on a number of math fora, part of learning some calculus (not much of set theory, no). To my surprise I found what I would describe as strong resistance from some folks against (using) ...
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Is there any major benefit to using NAND in infinitary logic?
In infinitary logic (there's an SEP entry about it), you can have infinitely long conjunctions and disjunctions. But imagine that different logics are like different video games. Usually, to my ...
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Can we complete an infinite process? When we are in this infinite process [closed]
This is an old and modern question.According to Cantor, we can complete an infinite process, such as his diagonal method. But if this infinite process can be completed, can a ring on a line leave the ...
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Final Steps and Zeno's Paradox
In the SEP article on supertasks, it states that:
Max Black (1950) argued that it is nevertheless impossible to complete the Zeno task, since there is no final step in the infinite sequence. The ...
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Need help understanding how certain mathemetical statements across the landscape can seemingly contradict (e.g. Cantor-Hume vs Euclid)
Here are the main components to my understanding on this issue:
Almost all of math can be given in a foundation of set theory
Different math can seemingly contradict, e.g. in Euclidean geometry ...
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Is the B-theory of time only compatible with an infinitely renewing cyclical reality?
I'm not a mathematician and I may be misunderstanding some aspects of this concept.
According to the B-theory of time, the flow of time is an illusion, and every point in time exists equally. If this ...
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A thought process: understanding infinite density (black hole) from a temporal stance using a hypothetical Ouroboros [closed]
The two main focus questions:
Could a snake theoretically devour itself whole?
Does a black whole actually have infinite density and zero volume?
Everything below is just extra explanatory steps on ...
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Is infinity a concept or a word empty of meaning?
I'm wondering if infinity is a concept.
We know from experience that there are things for which one cannot reach the end. A long way through the space is an example. One cannot reach the end of the ...
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Is there some sort of disconnect between the math we use and our "observed phenomena" in reality?
So my question comes from two questions on this site one of them being my own, How small can we measure space? and Is the (surprising) applicability of mathematics to the physical world a brute fact ...
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What is the state-of-the-art of formal definitions of God?
Isn't the only formal analytic definition of God, that of Cantor's Absolute Infinity?
What is the state-of-the-art of this approach?
Are there other definitions?
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Constructing an infinite interval with a definite starting point given an infinite past [duplicate]
I had a question regarding constructing an infinite interval with a starting point given an an infinite past. I wish to model an infinite past in a non-formal non-rigorous set theoretic manner and was ...
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Has anybody revised Kant's Antinomies of space & time in view of modern physics?
Has anybody updated Kant's antinomies in view of modern physics?
In The Critique of Pure Reason (1781) he laid out the Antinomies of Pure Reason highlighting contradictions in the ideas of time and ...
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Can anything happen at any time right now if there is infinite Possibilities in life?
If we live in a world with possibly infinite realities, and infinite space, doesn't that mean that there is an chance that anything could happen?
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Is learning an infinite loop?
We learn from people who were taught by other people. Those people were taught by other people. Those people were taught by other people.
For example, a professor teaching in a university was once ...
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Completeness in finished system
Gödel's incompleteness theorems addresse formal axiomatic théories.
Incompleteness of arithmetic of natural numbers is an example.
My question is if a theory regarding a finite class of numbers cannot ...
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