I can't speak for him, but I'd say they are formulas for the construction of numbers, not numbers themselves.
As you run more iterations of the formula, the number that's generated slightly changes / gets additional decimals added to it.
Post by twetch#1832
So, there's no fixed quantity that equals "the square root of two."
Instead, there's a symbol that represents a formula for the generation of numbers.
The generated numbers begin with 1.41 and get more decimals added with more cycles.
What the chain says
- Block
- 662 126
- Time
- 2020-11-20T16:35:57Z
- Signer
- 1Jj8TsZnm1bosAJFjkbS8J2MckEGx6sGot
- App
- twetch
- Type
- post
- Content type
- text/plain
- Name in tx
- twetch#1832
Fields the transaction did not carry are omitted. Open the payload to see the bytes as stored.
Signed by
1Jj8TsZnm1bosAJFjkbS8J2MckEGx6sGot VerifiedReplies (17)
Well there definitely is a fixed quantity. You just can't write it out all at once.
Why "definitely"? Mathematics is a language, and just like any language, the symbols don't necessarily correspond to some independently existing part of the universe.
What explanatory benefit do you gain from saying the sqrt(2) is a fixed quantity?
Well it doesn't change, does it? So how can it not be fixed?
Depends on what "it" is. The formula doesn't change, but the output of the formula does, depending on how many times you iterate.
1.41 is different than 1.414 is different than 1.4142, etc.
The formula stays the same. The output changes.
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