Re: virus: Real World?

jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com
Mon, 6 Jan 97 15:30:16 GMT


David McFadzean wrote:

> > From: jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com
> > Date: Tuesday, December 31, 1996 2:59 AM
>
> > Here's a little theory that one of my friends invented whilst extremely
> drunk:
> >
> > If the probability of any event occurring at any time and at any point in
> > space is 1/oo (where oo = infinity), and given that time is /probably/
> infinite,
> > irrespective of the state of the universe, then there are an infinite
> number of
> > instances at which an event can occur. Hence, the probability of any
> event
> > happening in the Universe, or one before it, or one after it, is denoted
> as:
> > 1/oo * oo = 1/1 Therefore, the event must occur.
>
> You're friend must have been extremely drunk.

Yup, he's a medical student :)

> By the same reasoning, if
> I flip a coin twice the chances of getting tails is 100% (1/2 * 2 = 1/1).

Not true, but if you flip a coin an infinite amount of times, you will get
tails an infinite amount of times. You will also get heads an infinite
amount of times - I think ;P

> Besides, doing arithmetic with infinities is risky business;

True, I hate infinities equations, esp. WRT to graphs.

> you have to
> be sure they are of the same order (aleph null, etc.) and some operations
> (like addition) don't make sense (oo + 1 = oo).

Yep, but it must be remembered that oo is not a number, it is a representation
of a number so huge that it cannot be written easily. Therefore, the above
equation /is/ true.

Drakir
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Richard Jones "We are the New Breed
jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com We are the Future."
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