- Thread starter
- #61
but thats still not true
0.999... REPRESENTS 1
but it doesnt equal it
I've found some nice quotes from some maths nerds:
"In fact, 0.9999... does equal 1, it can't be not quite equal to 1, and it doesn't have any properties ("interesting" or otherwise) that distinguish it from 1. It is simply an alternate representation of 1. To claim otherwise is to misunderstand the meaning of "0.9999..."."
"Firstly, rational numbers are fractions, i.e., the ration of one integer to another. When you are talking about 0.999..., you are talking about infinitely long decimal fractions, i.e., the limit of a series of finite decimal fractions, i.e., the domain of real numbers. So when you say that 0.999... = 1, you are saying that the real number expressed by 0.999... is the same as the real number 1."
""0.9999..." is definied (by mathematicians) as the limit of the sequence 0.9, 0.99, 0.999, 0.9999, ...
The word "limit" itself has a precise mathematical definition, and using this definition one can prove that the limit of the above sequence is indeed 1.
So if you're using the standard mathematical definition of 0.9999..., then the statement that 0.9999... = 1 is uncontroversial. So far as I can tell the only reason people tend to think there's something mysterious here is that they are (perhaps unintentionally) using 0.9999... to mean something slightly different (and perhaps less clearly defined) than what mathematicians use it to mean."
0.999 does represent one - an alternative reprensentation.
P.S - post 8 I stated they are the same 'real number.'