Life on the Infinite Farm [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

Life on the Infinite Farm [pdf]

math.brown.edu

105 pointspolm2312 comments

I wonder what the intended age group is. These animals are a bit scary - imagine an infinite row of sharp teeth and infinite number of tentacles going after you (on the bright side it would take infinite time to mobilize them all);

i got scared by the yellow submarine as a kid, interesting if real kids like it.

The yellow submarine still makes me vaguely uneasy as an adult.

> I wonder what the intended age group is

Stoned grad students? ;)

While I thoroughly enjoyed the piece, I am not sure how much an untrained mind would appreciate the whole idea.

I can't really judge without going through the material that accompanies the slides, but I am really skeptical about what a normal child takes away from this.

I'm a relatively intelligent adult who hasn't previously considered any of these problems or spent much time thinking about infinity. This was perfect for me, I developed an understanding of the problem and solutions in a short amount of time. It was a great read and I felt like I learned something, not sure I can ask for more...

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not sure this is even targeted at children.

I was reminded of the infinite hotel paradox at the beginning, and then suspected that that's where they were going. Sure enough, that's what they did. At the end one of the books on the shelf mentions it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_paradox_of_the_Gra...

Meh, infinity is not a number. If you want kids to look at it like a mathematician you just need to show infinity as a process and leave Lovecraft horror behind.

Here is a circular track. Little ant walks around it counting every number. Where does he stop? Well he never stops!

What happens if he needs to two bags. Well if he picks the first up and leaves the other while counting he will never go back. But, he if picks one up moves it an inch, goes back to the other then they both keep moving forward without stopping.

You can't say he stops sooner without the bags because he never stops! You can say he moves faster without the bags.

PS: If you use this mental model you realise the cow walking forward would never stop stepping into the next set shoe. It would look like a wave where you have infinity and a wave heading at it, but never reaching it. Thus, your not adding 1 to infinity and she never stands on more shoes or adds more legs.

I didn't realize someone slipped acid into my coffee this morning.

This was a book of nightmares. Something about the drawings was a bit unsettling, especially the person at the end.

My personal favourite to illustrate infinity (as possible) and some math concepts around it is still the video "How To Count Past Infinity" from Vsauce:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrU9YDoXE88

"This is math, not science." (~12:30)

This has been going around the internet as an example of when trying to teach kids fun facts slips into terrifying Lovecraftian evil.

This is an overview of the mathematics of infinity, lovingly illustrated with examples like an infinite cow, an infinite chicken, bubblegum... It's a curious transmission from a more chaotic universe.

Cute alternate version of Hilbert's grand hotel.

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