Fun with math

 Posted by on 30 April 2009  Everything Else
Apr 302009
 

Did you ever stop to think that maybe everything we know is wrong? What if we have a flaw in our thinking at such a basic level that we can’t even see it?  Where would that leave us?

In that vein, allow me to prove that 2 equals 1:

a = b

a2 = ab

a2 – b2 = ab – b2

(a + b)(a – b) = b(a – b)

a + b = b

2b = b

2 = 1

There you go.  Our mathematical system is fundamentally wrong.

Or is it?

Kudos to the first person to explain this simple mathematical proof in a way that anyone can understand…

T. Keith Edmunds

 Tagged with:
  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    I’ll give it a whirl. I think the problem arises when you state that (a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b)

    That’s true as far as it goes, except that a=b, which means that a-b = 0.

    So, you’ve got an equation that says (a+b)*0 = b*0 … or zero = zero.

    In order to go from (a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b), to the next stage, (a+b) = b, what you’ve done is try to divide by (a-b). However, (a-b) is still zero.

    So you end up with (a+b)/0 = b/0

    But you can’t divide by zero. If you do, the result, if I recall correctly, approximates infinity.

    so instead of 2=1, you end up with infinity = infinity.

    Now, can I show you how people have 11 fingers?

  • Alawna

    No Jokes this was on the a Grade 11 Pre Calc test in Waskada today…this is like deja vu all over again.

  • MPot

    Gah! Math first thing in the morning? Have you no soul?

  • http://pennywise-books.blogspot.com/ T. Keith Edmunds

    Grant wins!