Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 11 Mar 1997 12:25:44 -0500 (EST) | From | Donald R Willhoit <> | Subject | Re: 2.0.30 - its all a numbers game, I tell ya! |
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Excerpts from internet.computing.linux-kernel: 11-Mar-97 Re: 2.0.30 - its all a numb.. by H. Peter Anvin@transmeta > Proof by obfuscation doesn't count. You can "prove" that 0/0 = a for > any finite number a by observing that: > > a x > lim --- = a > x -> 0 x > > Q.E.D. > > (a doesn't even have to be real for the proof to hold!) > > -hpa ON THE CONTRARY NOT QED. this may not be obfuscation itself but it relies on the obfuscation of the definition of a limit.
Okay my apologizes to continue this TERRIBLY OFF TOPIC thread but something has to be set straight here. The above is a limit - it doesn't prove that 0/0=a. In a slightly better form, since people are always abusing things likes limits and infiinites heres the definition.:
DEFINITION Let f be a function defined on some open interval that contains a number a, except possibly a itself. Then we say that the limit of f(x) as x approaches a is L, and we write lim f(x) = L x->a if for every number E > 0 there is a corresponding number d >0 such that |f(x) - L| < E whenever 0 < |x-a| < d
From this you should see that your "proof" fails.
D. Ryan Willhoit
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