Taming Infinity: The Sum Of All Powers Of Two

Saturday, February 1, 2014 - 14:01 in Mathematics & Economics

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first mathematician orders a beer. The second orders two beers. The next orders four. Followed by the next who orders eight. The bartender interrupts them: "ok guys, cut the crap: you owe me one beer". --------------------------------------------- A recently posted Numberphile video is heading towards 2 million hits on YouTube. That is an impressive score for a video focusing on a math subject. The two physicists in the video try to convince the viewer that all positive integers add up to -1/12. Yes, you read that correctly: these damn physicists dare to argue that 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... = -1/12. read more

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