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Paradoxes!


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Or things that a bit like riddles, I suppose. Ive brought something like a few of these in OOC before, going in like "??????" and then coming out like "?????????" because someone tried to explain it, but Im a dumb peice of shit, but maybe you guys and figure these out, out of boredom or something.


"What happens if Pinocchio says 'My nose will grow?'"


"If everything is possible, is it possible something is impossible?"


"The next sentence is true. The last sentence is a lie."


Go nuts people.

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"Anything is possible" is just a saying with no real scientific or mathematical foundation. It's a motivator, is all.


Something I think that's similar in concept is


Zero is nothing. But it's also something. Not much of a paradox I guess, since even nothing is something conceptually. One can not exist without the other, etc.


It sounded much better in my head but I already put forth the effort to type it.

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a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.


"I always lie", "The student teaches his instructor who teaches his student", "This statement is false", and "Is "no" the answer to this question?" being notable and fun examples.

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"What happens if Pinocchio says 'My nose will grow?'"

Then his nose will grow for being a smartass.

 

"If everything is possible, is it possible something is impossible?"

Yes, that statement is.

 

"The next sentence is true. The last sentence is a lie."

And ultimately both are meaningless.

 

"I always lie"

You don't always lie, but you're still a pretty good liar.

 

"The student teaches his instructor who teaches his student"

You can always learn something new, and people always have different things to teach.

 

"This statement is false"

Congratulations, you're also a pretty good liar like the guy two quotes up.

 

"Is "no" the answer to this question?"

Maybe.

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Let a & b each be equal to 1. Since a ^ b are equal,


b^2 = ab ...(eq.1)


Since a equals itself, it is obvious that


a^2 = a^2 ...(eq.2)


Subtract equation 1 from equation 2. This yeilds


(a^2) - (b^2) = (a^2)-ab ...(eq. 3)


We can factor both sides of the equation; (a^2)-ab equals a(a-b). Likewise, (a^2)-(b^2) equals (a + b)(a - b) (Nothing fishy is going on here. Ths statement is perfectly true. Plug in numbers and see for yourself!) Substituting into the equation 3 , we get


(a+b)(a-b) = a (a-b) ...(eq.5)


So far, so good. Now divide both sides of the equation by (a-b) and we get


a + b = a ...(eq.5)


b = 0 ...(eq.6)


But we set b to 1 at the very beginning of this proof, so this means that


1 = 0 ...(eq.7)

 

 

Calculus

How does that work

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Calculus

How does that work

1) It's not calculus. It's an invalid proof.

 

Let a & b each be equal to 1.
(a+b)(a-b) = a (a-b) ...(eq.5)


So far, so good. Now divide both sides of the equation by (a-b)

2) These two lines show what is wrong with the proof. If a and b are both 1, then a-b = 0. You cannot divide both sides of the equation by a-b because division by 0 is undefined. Therefore the 'proof' cannot progress.

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If someone travels back in time and kills their former self before they discovered time travel, whatt happens?

Ah, now that is a traditional paradox. Its called "The Grandfather Paradox" to be exact. It means that of you killed your past self, or anyone needed for you to be born, you would have never gone back in time to kill whoever in the first place. Vsauce 3 had a good video discussing three time travel paradoxes, featuring Bill Nye.

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