Re: Marble problem--put in 10 marbles, then remove 1
- From: Virgil <ITSnetNOTcom#virgil@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 20:23:59 -0600
In article <1130008960.827241.88970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"david petry" <david_lawrence_petry@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Steven wrote:
> > My friend and I have have different answers to the following problem. Who
> > is correct and why?
> >
> > You have a countable number of marbles and a really big bag.
> > The marbles are labeled 1, 2, 3, ... and so on.
> > You put the first ten marbles into the aforementioned bag and then you take
> > marble number 1
> > out of the bag and discard it. Then you put marbles 11 through 20 into the
> > bag and then you
> > take marble number 2 out of the bag and discard it, and so on.
> > In the end how many marbles are in the bag?
>
> "In the end" ?
>
> The world of the completed infinite is a fictional world.
> There is no truly "correct" answer. Most mathematicians will
> tell you that "in the end" the bag is empty, and trying to
> argue with them is a waste of time.
If every ball that has been put into the bag has also been removed by
"the end", then after the end what balls can remain?
This is not something that can take place in any physical reality, as in
any physical reality there cannot be infinitely many balls to begin with.
So it can only take place in a mathematical version of reality, as a
metaphysical gedankenexperiment. And in such mathematical worlds
mathematics rules.
.
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