this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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[โ€“] EnsignWashout@startrek.website 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Infinity is effectively just bullshit.

I'm fond of pointing out to my students that there's a very practical reason to care about "infinity" in math:

While nothing ever reaches "infinity", things absolutely do reach a point where they violently fly to pieces and catch on fire.

So I teach my students to substitute the phrase "explodes and catches on fire" where they see an equation that "approaches infinity".

I find it helps them pay attention to a subject that is otherwise bullshit. Infinity itself is bullshit, but it has a place in math: telling us when to quickly duck behind a good solid oak table.

[โ€“] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

I bet you are a great teacher.

Oh, and Ensign? Tea. Earl Grey, hot.