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Re: TIME - Achilles and the tortoise.



At 11:26 AM 8/30/2003 -0400, you wrote:
/// it bugs me that math professors are teaching
students that an infinite series is the way to solve the puzzle, when
simple algebra and the equations of motion clearly describe the race and
the results. Am I missing something here?

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.


It was elusive to the philosophers that the sum of
an infinite series of time increments could have a well defined value.

So teaching sums of infinite series, specially those that have a finite, even
small limit is illuminating. Even though other didactic approaches
avoid this particular issue entirely.
sum of 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16...... = 2 is interesting.


Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!