FishingBanter - View Single Post

**Wolfgang** · November 2nd, 2006, 07:13 PM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly

"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
t...
In article t,
says...
The two are on the football field goal line and on the other goal line is
the best of the Dallas cheerleaders, buck naked. The mathman and the
engineer are told the first person that gets there gets to do any thing
they
desire with the lassie. Only rule is you can only move 1/2 the distance
to
the goal in any one move. The mathman says no use to start as it is an
infinite series and you will never get there. The engineer, says 8 moves
and I can be close enough for my purposes.

Then "mathman" clearly didn't know what he was talking about. I do this
in my Calc II class every year when we get to the chapter on infinite
series. I don't have any nekkid cheerleaders, but I stand at one wall
and tell the class I plan to walk half of the distance to the other
wall, then walk half of the remaining difference, then walk half the
remaining difference, and so on. I ask "Will I make it to the other
wall?" I ask for a show of hands, and most students raise their hands
for "No". Then I say, "Watch me," and walk directly across the room
until I bump into the far wall.

It's an illusion. Obviously, you can never reach the wall because you can
subdivide the remaining distance to it in half infinitely. Naturally, it
follows that you are infintely adding increments of distance to that already
travelled. This will, eventually, result in travelling an infinite
distance. This is all very tiring. There is also the mental strain of
dealing with the proposition of an infinite distance yet to go. You are
actually dropping of sheer exhaustion about half way to the wall.

Lively discussion then ensues...

You should direct some of your less gifted students to leave the classroom
and come here. This will have the salutary effect of raising the IQ in both
places.

Wolfgang