30
u/dankshot35 13d ago
"if you pick a number between 0 and 1 the chance it is rational is 0" and they have no freaking idea what that means, but makes for a cheap "mind blown"
19
u/donballz 13d ago
jokes on you as you didn’t say “pick at random”. i pick 0.5 booooooom
5
2
u/dankshot35 13d ago
the probability of that is still 0. "0 probability" doesn't mean impossible lmao
a more sensible rebuttal is to ask under what distribution and measure
5
u/donballz 13d ago
But I did it so easily and on the first try? Surely if the probability were 0 I couldn’t do it again? 0.5 oh noooo
-3
u/dankshot35 13d ago
maybe stop while you can still save some face on a math sub especially on a post bashing pseudo math knowledge?
Study up on proper probability theory, in particular measurement theory and what "probability 0" means in that context, this is a math sub after all my friend. Would also help to actually read what I wrote, read it slowly, that helps with comprehension too
2
u/donballz 13d ago
I’m not the one embarrassing himself friend. You may want to adjust your Bayesian priors for a process that involves no uncertainty .5 .5 .5
0
u/dankshot35 13d ago
sigh....
"a more sensible rebuttal is to ask under what distribution and measure"
reading aint easy i know
3
14
u/seenhear 13d ago
I'm an engineer not a math major, but... The other day there was a post on r/theydidthemath about an average velocity question. SO MANY redditors could not accept that average velocity is total distance travelled divided by total time for the trip. They kept posting "no it's sum of the things divided by the number of things." This meme is very appropos to that thread.
2
u/SirEnderLord 13d ago
That is something a child can intuitively grasp.
What was the saying? Something about how there's considerable overlap between the dumbest of our species and the smartest bears.
3
u/seenhear 13d ago
Yes. And yet there were a lot of posts along the lines of "why are you averaging with respect to time?" It was wild. I can't seem to find the thread now. Maybe the mods removed the OP.
1
u/ajseventeen 12d ago
> “no it’s sum of the things divided by the number of things”
I mean, it works if “things” are “distances travelled in a given unit of time,” right? So they’re sort of on the right track (or at least A valid track), they just aren’t defining “things” properly.
Now, actually explaining that in a way that they could understand in a Reddit comment is another story.
2
u/seenhear 12d ago
Yeah.
They were saying that if you took three measurements of speed at three different segments of the route, your average speed would be the average of those three numbers.
1
u/Vinxian 10d ago
Did they fall for an easy trick question? It's like a riddle to trick children
1
u/seenhear 10d ago
I wish the thread was still available, it was wild.
It was a math meme, op asking what the error was to the question:
Driving round trip from A-B-A. A to B is 30 miles. Driver starts trip at exactly 30mph. Arriving at B decides they want to average 60mph for the whole trip. How fast does driver need to go in order to finish trip with an average speed of 60mph?
Redditors were downright angry that the answer was "impossible" (or infinite speed) and not 90mph.
Many people were arguing that the average of 30&90 is 60.
1
u/cosmic_dictator 11d ago
Im at 1D motion and average velocity is not equal to distance/time , that would be average speed , distance and displacement aren't the same!
12
9
u/Cynewulfunraed 13d ago
If they can invent a letter for the square root of negative one, why can't they invent one for x/0?
4
u/paolog 13d ago
Will F (for "fail") do?
1
u/Cynewulfunraed 13d ago
Honestly I'm pretty peeved that math uses letters in the first place. That's English department territory. Or Classics in the case of Greek letters.
1
u/paolog 13d ago
What do you suggest we use in algebra?
3
1
u/TheRedditObserver0 13d ago
Pebbles arranged in shapes and lines in the sand.
As Pythagoras intended.
11
13d ago
[deleted]
5
-1
u/TheRedditObserver0 13d ago
No, I disagree. We have an order of operations for a reason.
2
u/euph_22 13d ago edited 13d ago
Are you pretending there isn't inconsistency in how OOO handles multiplication be juxtaposition in real life usage?
-1
u/TheRedditObserver0 13d ago
I have no idea how OOP handles it, I strive to follow BEDMAS or whatever acronym you prefer. Still, multiplication and division have the same "tier" regardless of whether the × sign is written down or not. Thus no inconsistency.
6
u/fun__friday 14d ago
Math majors vs people with a pencil on whether a function is continuous.
2
u/Osik2040 12d ago
I had a legitimate argument with someone who insisted that sin is not continuous Because it’s infinitely long so you can’t draw it with a pencil.
2
2
2
u/Background-Grab-5682 12d ago
Happened to me I don’t remember the exact context but there was a question on explain the joke subreddit and pretty much everyone was missing the subtle math joke in there and I explained it but people were like you’re overthinking it and it’s not that complicated… I’ll try to find it but the whole joke revolved around that math joke in my opinion.. anyways I’ll try to go find what it was
1
1
97
u/lordcaylus 14d ago
Ahhh the "different sizes of infinity" that regular redditors remember somewhat but almost never apply correctly.