(November 10, 2016 at 11:20 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Puts me in mind of this one:
A philosopher, a physicist and an engineer are escorted into a room in which a stunningly beautiful woman is reclining on a sofa, wearing nothing but a hair ribbon and a smile. They are told to approach her asymptotically.
The philosopher thinks for a moment and says, 'This is clearly a Xenoic paradox - I would first need to cover half the distance to this woman then half of the remaining distance, and so on. Since there would always be half of the remaining distances to cover - an infinite series- I could never actually reach, so the attempt to do so would be futile. '
The physicist looks at the philosopher as if the latter has suddenly sprouted a second nose and says, 'While I agree with you about the impossibility of traversing an infinite series, I could certainly get close enough to make it worth my while. '
The engineer scratches his head and says, 'Why would I want to approach THAT?'
Boru
I'm having a thick moment (of indeterminate duration perhaps) but I'm not getting it. Any help?
