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Proof that nothing is everything

By Murray Bourne, 06 Mar 2007

Here's a great little proof that 0 = infinity:

zero = infinity proof
Image source: Photobucket [no longer available]

Can you spot the flaws in logic?

Actually, this also raises issues about the notation we use in mathematics, and how easy it is (jokes aside) for students to be easily confused by poor notation.

See also: Towards more meaningful math notation, where I expand on this difficulty.

See the 6 Comments below.

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Posted in Mathematics category - 06 Mar 2007 [Permalink]

6 Comments on “Proof that nothing is everything”

  1. MathNerd says:
    13 Mar 2007 at 12:23 pm [Comment permalink]

    I actually get it!

    Clever proof.

  2. Nothing is everything « Let’s play math! says:
    17 Mar 2007 at 5:59 pm [Comment permalink]

    [...] in Algebra & beyond, Mathematics at 11:59 am by Denise Does this proof at squareCircleZ blog mean that, if I get nothing done today, I can cross off everything on my [...]

  3. Guy says:
    4 Jun 2008 at 11:33 am [Comment permalink]

    cute πŸ™‚

  4. Aaron says:
    27 Jul 2010 at 9:44 pm [Comment permalink]

    I have better... If light has no mass, which can actually be tested, & you take the force equation and apply the mass of light. F=0a Then 0=00 and therefore 0??

    This explains darkness as well, when viewing the darkness in the night sky, one is seeing polarization of the suns light, it's light rear end that gives us darkness, which is also testable in shadow.

  5. Anonomys says:
    9 Nov 2010 at 7:59 am [Comment permalink]

    well i mean it is very complicated as you can see. I am doing a math project and i have to choose one specific topic to do my research paper on and like it is so amazing. Its like a huge astonishment

  6. Melvin Goldstein says:
    28 Dec 2010 at 4:29 am [Comment permalink]

    Numbers are the Supreme Court of science. However Godel proved that we may not prove everything. There are Physics Foibles!!

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