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Thinking about infinity
#25
RE: Thinking about infinity
(April 27, 2016 at 11:30 am)SteveII Wrote: I think that the set of real numbers is infinite. That is abstract though. 1...2...3...4 are real numbers. 

Have you ever read about Hilbert's Hotel:

Imagine a hotel with a finite number of rooms. All the rooms are full and a new guest walks in and wants a room. The desk clerk says no rooms are available.

Now imagine a hotel that has an infinite number of rooms. All the rooms are filled up so an infinite number of guests. A new guest walks up and wants a room. All the clerk has to to do is to move the guest in room #1 to room #2 and the guest from #2 to #3 and so on so your new guest can have a room #1. You can do this infinite number of times to a hotel that was already full.

Now imagine instead the clerk moves the guest from #1 to #2 and from #2 to #4 and from #3 to #6 (each being moved to a room number twice the original). All the odd number rooms become vacant. You can add an infinite number of new guests to a hotel that was full and end up with it half empty. 

How many people would be in the hotel if the guest in #1 checked out?

If everyone in odd number rooms checks out, how many checked out? How many are left?

Now what if all the guest above room number 3 check out. How many checked out? How many are left?

So from the above we get:
infinity + infinity = infinity
infinity + infinity = infinity/2
infinity - 1 = infinity
infinity / 2 = infinity
infinity - infinity = 3

I have read about this, and I'm glad you brought it up. So is it logically possible to fill every room of a hotel with an infinity of rooms?
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Messages In This Thread
Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 7:08 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - April 27, 2016 at 7:49 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 10:43 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 27, 2016 at 11:30 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 12:03 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 27, 2016 at 12:30 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 4:01 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by TheRealJoeFish - April 27, 2016 at 12:16 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 12:21 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Whateverist - April 27, 2016 at 8:04 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - April 27, 2016 at 8:23 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Whateverist - April 27, 2016 at 8:26 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 27, 2016 at 8:52 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 27, 2016 at 9:33 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by vorlon13 - April 27, 2016 at 9:37 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 27, 2016 at 9:41 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - April 27, 2016 at 9:42 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 27, 2016 at 9:48 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 27, 2016 at 9:49 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Excited Penguin - April 27, 2016 at 10:03 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 10:45 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Excited Penguin - April 27, 2016 at 11:03 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 12:00 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by RoadRunner79 - April 27, 2016 at 12:34 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Excited Penguin - April 28, 2016 at 12:18 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by RoadRunner79 - April 28, 2016 at 8:44 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 27, 2016 at 10:30 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by TheRealJoeFish - April 27, 2016 at 10:42 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 27, 2016 at 10:47 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 10:52 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 27, 2016 at 10:59 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 11:59 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 27, 2016 at 12:04 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 27, 2016 at 12:05 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 27, 2016 at 12:10 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 4:14 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - April 27, 2016 at 12:20 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by TheRealJoeFish - April 27, 2016 at 1:08 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 4:00 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - April 28, 2016 at 4:54 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 28, 2016 at 4:44 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 5:09 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Time Traveler - April 28, 2016 at 4:08 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 28, 2016 at 5:48 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 7:31 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 28, 2016 at 7:02 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 7:51 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by LastPoet - April 28, 2016 at 8:04 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 8:06 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by LastPoet - April 28, 2016 at 8:10 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Ignorant - April 28, 2016 at 8:14 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by LastPoet - April 28, 2016 at 8:05 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by LastPoet - April 28, 2016 at 8:06 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by LastPoet - April 28, 2016 at 8:21 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 28, 2016 at 9:04 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by RoadRunner79 - April 28, 2016 at 10:01 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by TheRealJoeFish - April 28, 2016 at 10:42 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by RoadRunner79 - April 28, 2016 at 2:16 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by SteveII - April 28, 2016 at 12:01 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by dyresand - April 28, 2016 at 6:50 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - April 29, 2016 at 12:53 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - May 3, 2016 at 5:07 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - April 29, 2016 at 3:59 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Wryetui - May 2, 2016 at 6:28 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by bennyboy - May 2, 2016 at 7:58 pm
RE: Thinking about infinity - by Alex K - May 3, 2016 at 3:17 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - May 3, 2016 at 2:21 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - May 3, 2016 at 3:22 am
RE: Thinking about infinity - by robvalue - May 3, 2016 at 3:55 am

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