Mathtastic

[ashling]

[pokerfan]

1. Those drinkers should know their limits (nt)

[intaglio]

7. Is that rational? n/t

[pokerfan]

8. Which is integral to a good joke... (nt)

[femmocrat]

2. I don't get it.

[Ron Obvious]

3. They'll never have more than two beers total

Because this infinite series will approach 2 but never exceed 2 (or indeed reach 2), even with an infinite number of mathematicians.

[femmocrat]

4. Are they supposed to serve themselves from the second glass?

I hate math.

[Ron Obvious]

5. Series and limits

Well, if you're going to be practical about it, I think the infinite number of mathematicians are going to be rather awkward to accommodate in the first place.

In maths, this would describe a series and a limit. I can't do it justice here, but it would be something like limit ( n=0, n ->∞ ) 1 + 1 1/2 + 1 1/4 + ... + 1 1 / 2 ^ n) = 2

Meaning that the limit of this infinite series (n approaches infinity) is 2.

[femmocrat]

6. Thanks for trying....

Are you a math teacher?

[pokerfan]

11. I'm a visual learner

so I gravitate toward pictures....



I can intuitively see that 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + ... adds up to 1. That plus the initial beer makes it 2.

You can see the more rigorous proof here. And on that note, we're done learning for the day:

[Ron Obvious]

12. No..

No, I'm just a retired computer programmer who only discovered how much fun maths could be after leaving school. Possibly like you, I never really had a good maths teacher, but the fault was largely mine. I would just sit in the back row of the class, scowling and fantasising about being anywhere else.

When I started computer programming, the love and affinity for logic and maths came along as a bonus.

[ashling]

9. My favorite part is where

the bartender says:

[font size = 5]"you're all idiots"

[pokerfan]

10. In this case never quite reach 2

Sure. Mathematically, it's equal to 2 but the physical chemist will point out that at some point there will be just one molecule left. /pedant

[ashling]

13. Now you're just splitting hairs

but physicists split atoms