Here’s one of my problems with saying that .99999 repeating equals 1. If that is true, then so is this:
.99(rept.) = 1.00(rept.)
That just don’t sit right.
Cabbage: I don’t exactly know the process by which one would define the real numbers using ration numbers, but I think I can venture a guess.
The difference between that and are example is that those (I’m assuming) are the cases when the limit as x approaches b equals f(b). That doesn’t hold true in our case, because you simply can’t evaluate f(infinity).
In our case, the function will forever get closer and closer to 1, but never actually reach it. That’s why we use limits. The limit is 1, but we never get there. When I make a distinction between algebraic numbers and a resultant of a limit, I am keeping in mind what these values represent: a plain ol’ 2 represents 2 of something, but the 2 that is a limit of something represents the tendency of the function. There’s a difference, and in this case, I think it’s important.
Case in point: f(x) = (x^2 - 6x + 9)/(x - 3)
lim x -> 3 of f(x) = 0
f(3) = undefined
This limit has a removable discontinuity, namely (x - 3). The graph of the function looks like a straight line, except there is a hole at x = 3, because the function divides by zero.
The way I see it, saying that .99(rept.) equals 1 is the same as saying that f(3) = 0. The closer and closer x gets to 3 from either the left or the right, the closer the functions gets to 0. It will never be zero, however, since the function is not defined there.
Just because a function approaches a value does not mean it has to reach that value. The limit as x approaches infinity of our .99(rept.) function is 1, but it will never reach one, just get closer the larger x gets. If it never reaches it, then I don’t see how it can equal 1. It’s damned close, but that’s not the same thing.
Oh, and Ryan, the sun does move around the Earth if you use Earth as your reference frame. All we have to do is zero the Earth’s velocity, and calculate the sun’s velocity in reference to the Earth, and we have the sun moving around the Earth.
Kupek’s Den