thicko

Genuine thanks to all who've sacrificed their time and/or effort to reply to my initial post. The response has been informative and sagacious, yet unpretentious, and quite frankly beyond all expectations - believe me, you's have all warmed my cockles! Tbh tho, the only reason I posted this "paradox", which has indeed troubled my inquisitive mind since 1984, was coz I'd fallen out with my wife and duly dismissed to the "huffy room" with no Sky TV, no DVD player and no supper - BUT WITH WiFi!! Thence I decided to try to rid my thicko brain of the conundrums she finds most perplexing, my initial post was the first one of myriad others! Maybe I should just stick to assessing/diagnosing/ and solving plumbing and heating problems in future, eh?

Thanks for the post, my friend, but I'm afraid I don't meet your stipulated criterion, as I have not done an A-level. I'm sorry!

I watched Alan Wells cross the finishing line in Moscow so I'm damned sure that if tubby Scotch people can run 100m then I can. I could be missing a fundamental point of maths/physics here, and if so I apologise profusely (maybes I was off school that day?) but if an integer can be divided into infinitesimal amounts in maths how can that not be so in reality?

Ken Fabian, I was obv mid-text when you replied so I hereby exclude you from my pseudo-vitriole, and I thank you very much for your response. However as a thicko in your field of knowledge, can you explain when or why distances become finite or infinite? In maths you can have .3 recurring (or any other number for that matter), aye? How can a millimetre not be defined in the same way, therefore making it infinite?

Dear me, surely you can't all be saving the universe with scientific research at this very moment in time? May I just post this with a finite amount of mirth and an infinite amount of sarcasm please? Find the difference between the two equations below : Mathematician has problem with heating system + seeks help via plumbing forum online = conscientious plumber replies eruditely, irrespective of the banality of said problem! Thicko plumber has problem with mathematics + seeks help via mathematicians forum = elitest mathematician replies dismissively, due to the banality of said problem! Answer : one is far more worthy than the other!

That may well be so, but have these paradox (es) been proven or otherwise. I'm just an inquisitive plumber so I'd hate to be wasting anyone's valuable time here btw. If you need to do something else, crack on - but if you can spare a finite amount of your time to explain this to me I'd appreciate it to the power of 9.9 recurring? Thanks in advance

Out of my depth but vaguely interested. maths teacher told me that he could prove that it's impossible to finish a 100m race due to infinity! His point was that at 99m (or any point before or after) the remaining distance left could be extrapolated to infinity using tenths/hundredths/thousandths etc of a metre, thus making it impossible to actually cross the finishing line. Expand