Back in high school, I had an ongoing argument with one of my best friends about a mathematical problem: Whether .9999….. is equal to 1. I argued that it was; he argued that it wasn’t. So, I was please to see an entry in Slashdot today regarding the controversy, including at 28-page paper.
Over the years, I’ve lost touch with this friend. Last I knew, Mark was a VP at Racal Vadic, but I haven’t heard from him in years (I’d guess at least 10). He’s one of the high school folks I’d love to get back in touch with.
I’ll note this is one of those great questions that I think shows something about your inner thinkings. Other “great questions” include the superhero question and the wealth question. So let’s see where you stand:
ETA: Because you can’t edit polls: “servents” -> “servants”. For a reference and details on the Superhero question, take a listen to this segment of “This American Life”. For the Wealth question, take a listen to this Planet Money episode. Lastly, .99999….. refers to an infinite number of 9s, also called “point nine repeating”.
