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Talking About Infinity

Submitted by Joel on Tue, 05/01/2018 - 11:36

If you've read my post about the concept of The Big and The Small, you know that I am fascinated by the concept of infinity and the infinitesimal. One of my favorite YouTubers, Joe Scott, posted a while ago about one of Zeno's paradoxes. The idea is that an arrow has to pass through an infinite amount of points in order to reach its mark. There is also the parable of Achilles and the turtle. The setting of this thought experiment is that Achilles and a turtle are racing. Since Achilles knows he's faster, he gives the turtle a head start. The race begins, but by the time Achilles gets to the turtle's starting point, the turtle will have traveled some distance. So Achilles must hit this next point to catch up to the turtle, but when he does, the turtle will have kept going. Can Achilles ever actually catch up to the turtle? Each time he reaches the next point to catch up, the turtle will have already moved ahead. 

Of course, Achilles will eventually pass the turtle and the arrow will hit its mark, but this is a nice illustration of the concept of infinity. Joe does a great job, as always, talking about it. Check it out!