this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2024
77 points (85.3% liked)
Showerthoughts
29827 readers
1031 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Avoid politics
- 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
- 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
- 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It's quite useful, though, to understand a curve or arc as having infinite edges in order to calculate its area. The area of a triangle is easy to calculate. Splitting the arc into two triangles by adding a point in the middle of the arc makes it easy to calculate the area... And so on, splitting the arc into an infinite number of triangles with an infinite number of points along the arc makes the area calculable to an arbitrary precision.
Or you could just enjoy your π
The number which famously has an infinite number of digits? I thought we were arguing against the real-ness of infinity.
Also note: the method I was describing is one of the ways in which pi can be calculated.
Instead of "has infinite digits", I prefer to say that it CANNOT be expressed as a base10/decimal number. If you choose a different base (base-pi for example), then it very much has finite digits... :)
It can't be expressed in any integer-based notation without an infinite number of digits. Only when expressed in some bases which are themselves, irrational. It's infinity either way.