Equals

Can anyone prove "1=2" ? if so HOW ???

Note by Dilip Kumar
8 years, 4 months ago

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5 votes

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Comments

It is impossible. This can be "proven" with a fallacious "proof". You could also make your own "mathematics" wherein "1=2" holds. However, that "mathematics" would be inconsistent with the conventional mathematics.

Ramon Vicente Marquez - 8 years, 4 months ago

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An example of a kind of mathematics where 1=2 1 = 2 holds, would be looking at the fractional part of a real number (sometimes also known as working modulo 1).

Recall that x \lfloor x \rfloor is the greatest integer function, which gives you the integer part of a number. The fractional part of a (positive) real number is given by {x}=xx \{ x \} = x - \lfloor x - \rfloor . You should be able to verify that the basic arithmetic operations still hold, and is consistent in the equivalence class.

This was popular in the past especially when logarithms were used to multiply large numbers, and looking at the fractional part of the logarithm gives you the initial starting digits. With the invention of calculators, it has fallen out of use and is now mainly used by computers to determine rounding.

Calvin Lin Staff - 8 years, 4 months ago

It is provable..but the reason why the proof breaks down is very obvious, basic and this proof is foolish :P The proof goes like this. we know that (a2b2)(a^2 -b^2)= (a+b)(ab)(a + b)(a - b) let us consider a=ba = b we have (a2a2)(a^2 - a^2) = (a+a)(aa)(a + a)(a - a) [This is where everything gets foolish]now, a(aa)a(a - a) = (a+a)(aa)(a + a)(a - a) [Ridiculous] cancelling (aa)(a - a) on both sides, we are left with aa = a+aa + a or a=2aa = 2a now cancelling aa on both sides, 1 = 2 :P

Nishanth Hegde - 8 years, 4 months ago

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The reason that this fails is because we can't divide by aa=0a - a = 0.

Zi Song Yeoh - 8 years, 4 months ago

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yeah..

Nishanth Hegde - 8 years, 4 months ago

We can "Proof that 0 = 1" ( :) ) then add 11 for both sides to obtain 1=21 = 2.

Zi Song Yeoh - 8 years, 4 months ago

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No dude, read that proof properly. it says it is incorrect. you're asked to find out where the mistake is...

Dilip Kumar - 8 years, 4 months ago

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I know.

Zi Song Yeoh - 8 years, 4 months ago

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@Zi Song Yeoh then

Sri Krishna Priya Dhulipala - 8 years, 4 months ago

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@Sri Krishna Priya Dhulipala It is impossible to prove that 1=21 = 2 with a correct proof.

Zi Song Yeoh - 8 years, 3 months ago

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@Zi Song Yeoh no, it can be proved correctly, read the first comment. It sums up the situation pretty nicely.

Harshit Kapur - 8 years, 3 months ago

Dude, stop trying to spew fraudulent material. It's not even a proper proof.

Tim Ye - 8 years, 4 months ago

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Chill out everybody. I'm pretty sure he was just making a joke. Hence the emoticon in the parentheses.

Peter Taylor Staff - 8 years, 4 months ago

Zi Song,the method used to obtain that proof wouldn't work for 1 and 2

Tan Li Xuan - 8 years, 4 months ago
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