Don't close this please i beg you

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the mathematical concept of the equality between the repeating decimal 0.999... and the integer 1. Participants explore the implications of this equality, its acceptance, and the validity of polling opinions on the matter.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant argues that polling on a fact that is true and not controversial, such as 0.999... equaling 1, is not a suitable project topic.
  • Another participant suggests that the project could focus on the perception of this fact, noting that many people deny the equality, which could be an interesting angle.
  • A reference to a previous poll on a different forum is made, indicating that a significant portion of respondents (40%) did not accept the equality as true.
  • A request is made for proofs regarding the equality, with a mathematical demonstration provided that shows how the limit of the series converges to 1.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the appropriateness of the project topic and the acceptance of the mathematical fact. There is no consensus on whether polling opinions on this topic is valid or meaningful.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes assumptions about the audience's mathematical knowledge and the reliability of polling results from a specialized forum compared to the general public.

do you think that 0.999...=1

  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Unsure

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Don't know what u mean

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    9
chickenguy
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Pleas Answer the POll and don't close the thread as my project is due very very soon
 
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Fine. I voted "this is pointless" because you are trying to take a vote on something that is either true or false, and it happens to be TRUE. There is no doubt or controversy about it, so it doesn't make a very good project topic. I'm sorry to say it, but you should be looking into something else.
 
... unless the project is making a point of how unknown this TRUE fact is. Because personally I think it's rather interesting how many people would deny that .999... = 1. My only argument would be that to poll people from the Physics Forums, especially in the General Math section, is a bit innacurate as the voters are obviously more informed on the subject than the average person.
 
I few years ago there was a similar poll on Anatech forums. The result of over a 1000 votes was split about 60 - 40 with 40% getting it right.
 
Could anyone please put in any proofs to this thread and could you please explain this?

One can show that this limit is 9/10 + 9/100 + 9/1000 ... using Analysis, and a proof really isn't all that hard (we all believe it intuitively anyway); a reference can be found in any of the Analysis texts referenced at the end of this message. Then all we have left to do is show that this sum really does equal 1:

Proof: 0.9999... = Sum 9/10^n
(n=1 -> Infinity)

= lim sum 9/10^n
(m -> Infinity) (n=1 -> m)

= lim .9(1-10^-(m+1))/(1-1/10)
(m -> Infinity)

= lim .9(1-10^-(m+1))/(9/10)
(m -> Infinity)

= .9/(9/10)

= 1
 

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