I originally discovered this and posted a thread on the forums but within 5min my posted deleted, made a second post asking why deleted. This post is holding up, yall might want to read before it gets deleted.
Doesn't break anything. Is (moderately) useful because it gives a good understanding of what our mathematical system is and how it functions, I would say it is important for new students who are taking mathematical theory in University to understand this very point, as it's one of the simplest and easiest to prove math facts that is almost unbelievable but fundamentally true. In math when we talk about infinitesimal we are literally talking about a value which is indistinguishable from 0. (Note that for the same reason 0.000...1 is effectively 0.)
In fact integration is the act of summing an infinite number of infinitely small objects. Sometimes it's just plain elegant how this stuff actually works.
(Note that for the same reason 0.000...1 is effectively 0.)
That's not even a valid number. You can't add additional numbers after the ... as the entire point is that it repeats indefinitely.
Anyway, .999... does equal 1. Exactly 1. Not "effectively" or "approximately". It is simply another way of writing the exact same number. I've seen people try to argue that 1-.999... = .000...1, but again this is a nonsense number. If you subtract a number from itself, you get 0.
It's well established in mathematics that there are infinitely many rational numbers within any real interval of non-zero length (anyone with a B.S in math should know this.) Based on that fact, if .999... and 1 were different numbers, you should be able to name a rational number in the interval, other than 1. Of course, you cannot. Name any number less than 1 and it is quite obvious that it cannot be greater than .999...
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6232903755?page=1
teaches about limits?
It's really one of those things that math teachers use to make sure they never ever get laid. The discussion/concept serves very little real purpose.
Regardless, there are some really interesting ways to prove it out there.
For further reading/curiosity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0.999...
In fact integration is the act of summing an infinite number of infinitely small objects. Sometimes it's just plain elegant how this stuff actually works.
Except that the number 'infinitely close to' 1 is 1. The underlying concept is called a Dedekind Cut, and defines the real numbers.
So...
<shades>
it serves a very real purpose indeed.
YEEEEEEEAH!
Anyway, .999... does equal 1. Exactly 1. Not "effectively" or "approximately". It is simply another way of writing the exact same number. I've seen people try to argue that 1-.999... = .000...1, but again this is a nonsense number. If you subtract a number from itself, you get 0.
It's well established in mathematics that there are infinitely many rational numbers within any real interval of non-zero length (anyone with a B.S in math should know this.) Based on that fact, if .999... and 1 were different numbers, you should be able to name a rational number in the interval, other than 1. Of course, you cannot. Name any number less than 1 and it is quite obvious that it cannot be greater than .999...