Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Dr Datacharmer's Brain Training

The classic proof that 2 = 1 runs thus. First, let x = y = 1. Then:

x = y
x2 = xy
x2 - y2 = xy - y2
(x + y)(x - y) = y(x - y)
x + y = y
2 = 1

NB: x2 signifies x squared.

Spoilers at overcoming bias, via Chris Dillow.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2008 at 11:55 AM

    (x-y) = 0. Therefore you divided through by 0- which isn't allowed, you wicked beast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt NolanJanuary 22, 2008 at 7:47 PM

    Old dividing by zero, the number of times I fell for that one while attempting game theory. Damn zero

    ReplyDelete