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In reply to the discussion: If you're having math problems, I feel bad for you, son... [View all]Jim__
(15,248 posts)4. A set of numbers is countable if it has the same cardinality as some subset of the natural numbers.
Whether or not a set of numbers is countable has nothing to do with the how members of that set may be represented. For instance, 1/3 is a rational number, and its infinite decimal expansion, 0.33333... is a rational number, even though its exact decimal expansion is infinitely long.
... PI is not a rational number, because integers with infinitely long representations aren't integers. ...
Pi is not a rational number because there do not exist 2 integers, say n and m, such that pi can be written as n/m. Pi is not an algebraic number because there is no non-zero, one variable polynomial with integer (or rational) coefficients that has pi as a root.
... If you believe the decimal number are uncountable, fine. But now subtract the set of countable numbers from the uncountable numbers. Which is 1 in? Which is .999... in? How can a number be both countable and uncountable?
Your statement doesn't actually make sense. It's sets that are countable or uncountable. If you have a set of numbers that contains pi, then pi counts as one member of that set. The set of real numbers are uncountable because they cannot be put into one-to-one correspondence with any subset of the natural numbers. Since 1 and .999... are the same number, any set that contains one of them contains the other; the only difference is representation.
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Question for math teacher - Please. At the end of the year I have 100,000 Pesos...
wake.up.america
Feb 2013
#43
A set of numbers is countable if it has the same cardinality as some subset of the natural numbers.
Jim__
Mar 2012
#4
"there do not exist 2 integers, say n and m, such that pi can be written as n/m"
napoleon_in_rags
Mar 2012
#5
"... you know Z plus all integers of infinite length would probably have the same cardinality as R."
Jim__
Mar 2012
#7
As simply as it can be put, your statement is in direct contradiction to a Zermelo-Fraenkel axiom.
Jim__
Mar 2012
#12
Yeah, it guarantees the size N is infinite, not that any number in N is infinite.
napoleon_in_rags
Apr 2012
#20
I'm just incredibly glad to hear these people seeing the holes in set theory.
napoleon_in_rags
Apr 2012
#39