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To infinity — and beyond!

20 一月, 2016 - 10:05
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Figure 2.1 Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716)  

Little kids readily pick up the idea of infinity. “When I grow up, I'm gonna have a million Barbies."Oh yeah? Well, I'm gonna have a billion." “Well, I'm gonna have infinity Barbies.”” So what? I'll have two infinity of them." Adults laugh, convinced that infinity, \infty, is the biggest number, so 2\infty can't be any bigger. This is the idea behind a joke in the movie Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear's slogan is “To infinity - and beyond!" We assume there isn't any beyond. Infinity is supposed to be the biggest there is, so by definition there can't be anything bigger, right?