This last addition to the list provides a more fruitful account of infinity: the infinite as a concept. Mathematicians also study points, lines, sequences, structures and concepts. For one, mathematics is concerned with a lot more than just numbers. This may be a tempting position to take but unfortunately it isn’t wholly accurate. Surely ‘infinity’ is just the biggest thing possible? Any talk about the ‘mathematics of infinity’ is nonsense because mathematics concerns numbers and infinity is bigger than all the numbers! Not so. Usually when discussing the infinite, I am met with incredulity. Let’s start by considering how we conceptualise infinity. Infinity Door © Ernesta Kurpeikyte 2020 Thinking about Infinity Is it a number? Is it a concept? At the very least, it seems like something worth philosophising about. We all know there is no end point to the sequence of numbers, but in order to get the last word in the disagreement this child has somehow managed to get around this fact by talking about the totality of the sequence itself, rather than any of the members of that sequence. That is until the other child tries to escape their loss by saying: “Well I’m INFINITY coolest,” (although this is not a grammatically correct sentence, we’ll let it slide).Īt this point something interesting has occurred. So far nothing too confounding has happened in the argument. I think we know who is winning the argument now. This seemingly childlike manoeuvre has obvious and profound mathematical power quite simply, any response his opponent could give will always be quite literally ‘one-upped’ with no effort. “Whatever you say plus one!” proudly exclaims Child #1. That is until one little know-it-all uses this fact to their advantage: The problem with this method is that, as we know, you can always find a bigger number and so the argument seems to have no end. This then continues back and forth with each party one-upping the other with a new, larger number. “I’m three times as cool as you!” returns Child #1. “No you’re not, I’m twice as cool as you!” replies Child #2 “I’m cooler than you are!” says Child #1. In order to win this contest, children usually invoke mathematics: It usually doesn’t matter what the subject of the argument actually is, only who gets the last word. SUBSCRIBE NOW Articles To Infinity… and Beyond! Owain Griffin takes a leap beyond the limits of numbers, into concepts.Īyone who’s spent time around young children knows that inevitably, they will try to out-do each other.
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