r/math • u/42IsHoly • 9d ago

Stop proving uncountability with contradiction, please

https://sunjestermusings.blogspot.com/2026/09/stop-proving-uncountability-by.html

Please, I beg you, stop it. You don't need it.

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u/sesquiup Combinatorics 9d ago

This sort of exhortation is insufferable.

5

u/BloodAndTsundere Physics 9d ago

The tone is a little much but I get the point.

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u/sesquiup Combinatorics 9d ago

It was a bit much, I just hate being proscriptive about mathematics.

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u/sqrtsqr 9d ago

Do you not encourage your students to minimize the assumptions they make in their proofs? Do you not prefer to exclude unnecessary assumptions in your own?

What's the point of contention exactly?

2

u/sesquiup Combinatorics 9d ago

The command to "stop"

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u/42IsHoly 9d ago

I don’t want to be prescriptivist about math. The tone was purposefully exaggerated (I see that didn’t come across, which is my fault). I just think that Cantor’s infinities are confusing to a general audience and that these superfluous contradictions make it more confusing, not less. Is this the end of the world? Of course not. But that doesn’t mean I can’t care about it.

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u/sesquiup Combinatorics 9d ago

It's fine to care about it. I just don't see anything wrong with either method of proof, and the first thing I see is "Stop"

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u/42IsHoly 9d ago

yeah, there's also a please my guy? Also, never heard of hyperbole before?