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[_r.u.s.s.]

kugerfang how about you read the topic before posting and making yourself look funny

[rlbell]

Originally Posted by Kugerfang

Infinity is not a number, it's a concept.

It really is a number, it is just a really big number. One of the early problems in quantum mechanics is that infinity kept showing up in the calculations, normally of the form infinity = infinity. As this did not allow for any meaningful analysis, they 'renormalised' the equations by dividing both sides by infinity. Since the infinity on each side of the equation was of the same order, this allowed for meaningful calculations with finite results-- that matched experimental observations. Quantum gravity had the problem (I took a course in elementary particle physics eighteen years ago [and discovered that the particles were elementary, not the physics], and they may have solved it by now) that dividing both sides by infinity still had infinities on both sides.

It should be mentioned that dividing by infinity was not the straightforward task like dividing a number by two, but first coming up with a creative method of composing an expression that equals infinity and dividing by that (similar to constructing innovative ways of multiplying by one, or adding zero, in Algebra)

Never let anyone tell you that a degree in mathematics is entirely useless!

[dosraider]

Originally Posted by dosraider

This topic is filled with infinite LULZ.

Oh yeah, indeed, and the lulz is really neverending.
:nuts:

[SlowCoder]

Originally Posted by rlbell

It really is a number, it is just a really big number. One of the early problems in quantum mechanics is that infinity kept showing up in the calculations, normally of the form infinity = infinity. As this did not allow for any meaningful analysis, they 'renormalised' the equations by dividing both sides by infinity. Since the infinity on each side of the equation was of the same order, this allowed for meaningful calculations with finite results-- that matched experimental observations. Quantum gravity had the problem (I took a course in elementary particle physics eighteen years ago [and discovered that the particles were elementary, not the physics], and they may have solved it by now) that dividing both sides by infinity still had infinities on both sides.

It should be mentioned that dividing by infinity was not the straightforward task like dividing a number by two, but first coming up with a creative method of composing an expression that equals infinity and dividing by that (similar to constructing innovative ways of multiplying by one, or adding zero, in Algebra)

Never let anyone tell you that a degree in mathematics is entirely useless!

tssssss ...
:BOOM:!

[DoomYoshi]

Here is a neat site on the set of prime numbers.
infinity
I found it by exploring this incredible site