Does 2a=A? EDITED

[Varchld]

This is an interesting string of equations that my friend came up with during school today, claiming that he "broke math". I don't really understand it but here it is anyway:

a=b

a^2=b^2.... [ Sorry I made a mistake copying it down, I believe this fixes it?]

a^2-b^2=ab-b^2

(a-b)(a+b)=b(a-b)

a+b= a

2a=a

So what do you guys think? Does this make sense to you, or is my friend just an idiot?

EDIT: I personally think its a load of bull, but I am by no means a mathematician.

Ya mate is doing some weird stuff man.

 

[savandicus]

People realise that you can divide by zero in special cases right? by using an infinitely small value you can get values for division on zero.

For example

Sin(x) divided by x as x tends to 0 has a difined value of 1.

However yes at the orignal post, your dividing by 0 and thus screwing up the algebra giving 2 = 1. You can also achieve the same result with infinity or sums of infinite series.

 

[GodsOneMistake]

what hell is happening

 

[pffh]

Ahem how does b(a-b)=a? if a=b then b(a-b)=0 or a(a-a) or if b=a^2 a^2(a-a^2)=a^3-a^4
also (a-b)(a+b)=a+b? you get (a-b)(a+b)=0 or (a-a^2)(a+a^2)=a^2-a^4 so really you get
a^2-a^4=a^3-a^4 a=1 which makes sense since if a=b and a^2=b then a and b can only be 1 or 0.

I can only assume you were speaking english in that post, like I said I did not come up with this and do not really understand it. I was confused about the a^2=b, but I thought the smart people of the escapist could figure it out.

Well your mate is using the same trick that is used in almost every single of these math breaking problems he's stealthily dividing by zero in this case by calling it (a-b) and dividing by zero is the ultimate sin of math.

People realise that you can divide by zero in special cases right? by using an infinitely small value you can get values for division on zero.

For example

Sin(x) divided by x as x tends to 0 has a difined value of 1.

However yes at the orignal post, your dividing by 0 and thus screwing up the algebra giving 2 = 1. You can also achieve the same result with infinity or sums of infinite series.

That's only when using you are using limits as:

Sin(x)/x ---> 1 when x ----> 0 meaning sin(x)/x approaches 1 when x approaches 0 you're not dividing by zero you are just getting really really close to it.

 

[Flap Jack452]

Well your mate is using the same trick that is used in almost every single of these breaking math problems he's stealthily dividing by zero in this case by calling it (a-b) and dividing by zero is the ultimate sin of math.

Ok I gotcha, I'm not very good at math but I do know that dividing by zero is a big no-no in the math world

 

[Sporky111]

I'm not going to lie, that was really hard to read. I fixed it here, but didn't change any of the equation.

a = b

Multiply both sides by "a"
a * a = b * a

subtract b[sup]2[/sup] from both sides
a[sup]2[/sup] - b[sup]2[/sup] = a * b - b[sup]2[/sup]

Expand to brackets
(a - b) * (a + b)= b * (a - b)

divide by (a - b)
a + b = b

2a = a as a = b

Good logic, but the problem is in bold.

a = b Therefore

(a - b) = 0

You can't divide by zero, it just doesn't happen.

EDIT: missed the other solution, and right when I was feeling special. Oh well, at least it looks nice now (no offence)

 

[Imat]

time = money
women = time x money
women = money^2
money = sqrt(evil)
women = sqrt(evil)^2
women = evil

Proven mathematically. QED.

And I won't solve your friend's "breaking math" math problem, because it's been solved several times throughout this thread. Dividing by 0 is fun and all, but not really practical...

 

[neuromasser]

It works only if a=b=1(that way first two rows would be okay) and you can't divide by zero.
/thread

 

[Clashero]

Your friend is a dimwit with little knowledge of mathematics. Or maybe he did realize he was dividing by zero (in disguise)

 

[Flap Jack452]

Edit: I am using a model provided by a poster (sms_117b), all the stuff that he added my friend said when he explained it to me, but I forgot when transferring it here. Sorry for confusion, but here is real equation.

This is an interesting string of equations that my friend came up with during school today, claiming that he "broke math". I don't really understand it but here it is anyway:

a = b

Multiply both sides by a
a * a = b * a

subtract b^2 from both sides
a^2 - b^2 = a * b - b^2

Expand to brackets
(a - b) * (a + b)= b * (a - b)

divide by (a - b)
a + b = b

2a = a as a = b

So what do you guys think? Does this make sense to you, or is my friend just an idiot?

I'm too lazy to dig through this and line up each instruction one by one, line by line. If you can write up instructions, line by line, moving on to a different line after each calculation, I will create a program following your instructions and see whether this works are not. If you do this for me, I'll get back to you with the results.

I can do dig through these instructions myself, but I'm too lazy and even this as a Design Document it's too poor for me to bother to code, even if it's psudo-code

Just want this to be a bit more organised please, thank you.

Sorry I don't think I can help you, I was really confused about the instructions when my friend explained them to me. I just assumed that he knew what he was doing... but apparently didn't;

 

[Anarchemitis]

A=1.

 

[EZmacilx]

Edit: I am using a model provided by a poster (sms_117b), all the stuff that he added my friend said when he explained it to me, but I forgot when transferring it here. Sorry for confusion, but here is real equation.

This is an interesting string of equations that my friend came up with during school today, claiming that he "broke math". I don't really understand it but here it is anyway:

a = b

Multiply both sides by a
a * a = b * a

subtract b^2 from both sides
a^2 - b^2 = a * b - b^2

Expand to brackets
(a - b) * (a + b)= b * (a - b)

divide by (a - b)
a + b = b

2a = a as a = b

So what do you guys think? Does this make sense to you, or is my friend just an idiot?

This could only be true probivded that the last statement (2a=a as a=b) is true, but then your setting a condition that has no relevance. Due to all the algebra done, b has been eliminated from the equation all together, so a very well could be equal to b, but what does it matter when the final equation is 2a=a? In the case of 2a=a, there is technically an infinite amount of answers if you were to take into account imaginary numbers (square root of 1 and all that).

 

[EZmacilx]

time = money
women = time x money
women = money^2
money = sqrt(evil)
women = sqrt(evil)^2
women = evil

Proven mathematically. QED.

And I won't solve your friend's "breaking math" math problem, because it's been solved several times throughout this thread. Dividing by 0 is fun and all, but not really practical...

How can women be time x money AND money^2?

 

[supermaster1337]

how is a^2 = b


that's silly

a= 5
b=25

a^2 = b
5^2 = 25
25 =25

impossible because if a=b then your saying that 5=25 not possible.

 

[Flap Jack452]

Are the calculations also taking place in italics, or are they taking place in just plain text? Are they also accurate?

When I originally posted this I didn't have any italics, just the A's and B's. I adopted someone else's post that had used the italics to tell everyone what to do, because it seemed to make more sense.