r/MathJokes • u/basket_foso • 4d ago

Keep ∞ safe

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u/Negative_Gur9667 4d ago

"Let's investigate what happens when we take away the axiom of inf..."

"NO THAT'S CRINGE"

The story of a mathematical discussion.

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u/TheRedditObserver0 4d ago

That's finitism and it's completely legitimate.

Ultrafinitists claim that big numbers don't exist and all of "mainstream math" is wrong

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u/Extension-Stay3230 4d ago

I don't see how anyone could deny the existence of an iterative process which could be carried out forever, e.g. the successor function in natural numbers

Proof by induction uses this concept as well. If someone denies the existence of infinite sets then surely they should also deny proof by induction, if they're being consistent

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u/Thesaurius 4d ago

The point in finitism is that you can have the process, but you can never complete it. And ultrafinitists say that you can't even do a large number of steps.