you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 46 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

It's not like the regular numbers behave themselves. Have you ever heard a coherent, non-self referential definition of the number 3?

  • source
  • hideshow 16 child comments
  • [–] 22 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    the only numbers that actually exist are 0 and 1. everything else is a reference to those

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    I can define zero as the absence of 1. But also 1 itself is a reference to the infinitely fractional 0.00...1 and I'd consider that a different number to the whole number 1

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 11 points 3 weeks ago

    that doesn't actually exist in the standard number system; there is no single real number that's immediately next to 0, you can always get closer. some number systems have infinitesimals, but real numbers don't. and any very small real number with a terminating decimal expression is simply the inverse of a very large number, which is simply a long string of 1+1+1+1+1...

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 21 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)
  • [–] 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (1 child)

    So, take 2 bananas and add 1 banana

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)
  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    A banana is an elongated, edible fruit that is botanically a berry produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
  • [–] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)
  • [–] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    That would be 2. 3 would be {{},{{}},{{},{{}}}}.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments