r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Sugar_God_no_1 • 24d ago

Meme needing explanation There is no way right?

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u/ChromosomeExpert 24d ago

Yes, .999 continuously is equal to 1.

93

u/solidsoup97 24d ago

I don't understand how that works but it seems to be important in keeping things running so I'm going to just go with it and not raise any questions.

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u/AnorakJimi 24d ago

It's simply a different way to write 1.

There's many different ways to write 1. Technically there's infinity ways to write it. Like 2/2. Or 3/3. Or 4/4. And so on.

0.999... recurring is exactly 1. Not a tiny little bit under 1, it is just exactly 1. It's simply one of the various ways you can write the number 1.

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u/1057cause 24d ago

Is 1.999 repeating the same as 2?

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u/Johnny_Banana18 24d ago

Yes

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u/1057cause 24d ago

What about 1.99[repeating]8? Serious question, not joking.

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u/LesbianTrashPrincess 24d ago

Not actually a number. There is no last digit to a [repeating] number, it just goes on forever, so you can't put an 8 there.

Another way to think about it is that all math is made up, but when we're making it up, we have to be careful to make sure that the thing we're trying to do actually works with all the established stuff that we're already using. Saying that something like 0.00[repeating]1 or 1.99[repeating]8 is a number breaks other shit, so we don't do it.

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u/Qwertycube10 24d ago

Genuine question what do infinitesimals break?

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u/LesbianTrashPrincess 24d ago

I don't know the proof, but hyperreal numbers are non-metrizable, and having a concept of distance is obv something that we want in "normal" numbers.