MisterPoppy

Is 0.9999...... = 1? That's the question!

P.STaken from another forum. I thought it would be interesting to see your opinions about it.

Klarre

It is infinit close to 1, but not equal to 1.

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Eoin

There is a neat little proof which says that they are equal, however it relies on an assumption of how you add numbers with this sort of infinite representation.

Since this is a programming forum I'll give a programming answer instead of the math one; Yes they are equal if you are using the J programming language. See here for why.

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Benoit

It will get closer and closer to 1, but it will never be 1. It's like an asymptote.

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Josh Smith

Here is the maths behind it - http://www.math.fau.edu/Richman/HTML/999.htm

My Maths teacher last year loved proofs like that.

Arevos

It depends on the axioms of the system you use to evaluate that equation. And, indeed, whether it is possible to solve the equation with the axioms provided.

MBirchmeier

Didn't we have this argument already or was it at a different forum... either way it is .9(repeating) is one, no I'm not going to provide the proof, it can easily be googled.

-MBirchmeier

Benoit

Does that also mean 1 divided by infinity is zero?

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Booooze

Yeah, I remember something similar from math 12 just last semester. I learned that it's more like you can't actually say it's equal to one, but more like at what point is it equal to one. Makes little sense. It's about how close can we get to one, and at what point is it. Don't ask me to explain I don't remember...:p I'm not exactly a wiz at math.

MBirchmeier

Yes... you can.

If you're truly repeating forever than .9 repeating is one.

just the first google result

-MBirchmeier