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huck
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject: Math that doesn't add up |
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So, I was lying in bed this morning, and random thoughts were going through my head....I became stumped by basic addition.
1/2 + 1/2 = 1
.50 + .50 = 1
right? simple.
But 1/3 + 2/3 = 3/3 = 1
.33333 (repeating) + .666666(repeating) = .9999999 (repeating)
.99999 isn't 1. so is 3/3 approximately 1, and not exactly 1?
same thing with 1/9 + 8/9 = 9/9, which is supposedly 1.
but .1111111 + .88888888 = .999999999
where does the extra tick come from? |
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tweeterdj
Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Location: Gwangju
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| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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| aah the great mysteries of math. unfortunately, 1/3 does not equal 0.3333333. the 3s go on forever. but that's why we have fractions, and don't always use decimals. |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject: Re: Math that doesn't add up |
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| huck wrote: |
So, I was lying in bed this morning, and random thoughts were going through my head....I became stumped by basic addition.
1/2 + 1/2 = 1
.50 + .50 = 1
right? simple.
But 1/3 + 2/3 = 3/3 = 1
.33333 (repeating) + .666666(repeating) = .9999999 (repeating)
.99999 isn't 1. so is 3/3 approximately 1, and not exactly 1?
same thing with 1/9 + 8/9 = 9/9, which is supposedly 1.
but .1111111 + .88888888 = .999999999
where does the extra tick come from? |
SHUT UP!!!!!!!!! You have no idea what the heck you have done. In computer science (my major) it is a rounding error (or truncation error depending on the method you use to deal with it). When you think about it, a computer can only hold so many digits in memory (as memory is finite) so when you divide anything resulting in an infinite number, you will come across this problem.
This problem actually caused the European Arianne 5 rocket ship to veer offcourse and crash into a town. This is also a major problem for programmers who are programming for something that requires the utmost precision, like anything that uses radiation for treating cancer. Damn, you just brought back memories of horrible upper year computer science courses.
As for the answer, look up derivatives I think??? I am not a mathematician (though there are some on this board I saw from the what is your degree thread awhile back). I'm good with math, but don't want to answer the question cause I am not totally sure. |
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