When I was in 7th grade, I got in a fight with my Math teacher about infinity. We were learning about decimals at the time, and he taught my class that, there was an infinity of numbers between 0 and 1. Even though one minus zero is one and that is finite, decimals can go on forever and it is not possible to get to the end of possible numbers between 0 and 1. Ok, I’m with you. Then he went on to say that there is also an infinity of numbers between 0 and 0.5. Now wait just a minute. I got what he was saying, but I couldn’t accept that there one infinity could be bigger than another. I disrupted the class with my arguments until he threatened to make me stick my nose against the blackboard for the rest of class and I finally capitulated.
I am no less frustrated by this concept now than I was then, though I’ve learned to accept it. What choice do I have? It is true. Infinity doesn’t include Everything. Continue reading “Infinity”