Mathematics

Confusing Math with Morality

/ Leave a Comment

This essay is in response to Counterintuitive problem: Everyone in a room keeps giving dollars to random others. You’ll never guess what happens next. Dan Goldstein attributes the problem to Uri Wilensky, of Northwestern, who formulates it thusly: Imagine a room full of 100 people with 100 dollars each. With every tick of the clock, … [Read more…]

How to prove there is no Universe

/ Leave a Comment

Years ago, when I first read Paul Halmos’ seminal Naive Set Theory, I was blown away by how easy it was to prove that there is no universe. In fact, not even three sections in, he drops this italicized bombshell: $$nothing\text{ }contains\text{ }everything$$ or, “more spectacularly,” he continues $$there\text{ }is\text{ }no\text{ }universe$$ Luckily, we only … [Read more…]