Fellow fedizens!
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Fellow fedizens! As decreed by https://xkcd.com/843/ some fifteen years ago, it is once again time to spend the morning reading through the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions.
@LucasWerkmeister
I looked throught the first list (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions_about_arts_and_culture ) to see which ones I didn't know about.Here's one common misconception that I learned is wrong. Hemingway did not write the famous 6 word story, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." So, thanks, learned something new!
Going to keep reading, hoping to learn some more ...
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@fishidwardrobe @LucasWerkmeister are you confusing astronomy and astrology?
@mariellequinton @fishidwardrobe @LucasWerkmeister Pfff, you’re saying stars and planets actually exist? Yeah, right…
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@LucasWerkmeister i have said it before and i'll say it again: some of these are pretty silly. this may be more a reflection on the target readers than the writers — but does anyone *actually* believe there is a scientific basis for astronomy, for example?
(some others of these, on the other hand, are not silly at all.)
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@fishidwardrobe @LucasWerkmeister are you confusing astronomy and astrology?
@mariellequinton @LucasWerkmeister only in spelling… oops…
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Fellow fedizens! As decreed by https://xkcd.com/843/ some fifteen years ago, it is once again time to spend the morning reading through the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions.
@LucasWerkmeister @sandyarmstrong
The problem is that some of their "corrections" are in fact misconceptions themselves. Welcome to what happens when your next-door-neighbour Joe Blow can edit/admin a page and not check it's correct. I always say Wikipedia is "like an encyclopedia" in the same way that Madonna is like a virgin. Go to reputable sources in the first place (like Maths textbooks for Maths)
https://dotnet.social/@SmartmanApps/115207044364101854 -
@LucasWerkmeister @sandyarmstrong
The problem is that some of their "corrections" are in fact misconceptions themselves. Welcome to what happens when your next-door-neighbour Joe Blow can edit/admin a page and not check it's correct. I always say Wikipedia is "like an encyclopedia" in the same way that Madonna is like a virgin. Go to reputable sources in the first place (like Maths textbooks for Maths)
https://dotnet.social/@SmartmanApps/115207044364101854 -
@LucasWerkmeister @sandyarmstrong
The problem is that some of their "corrections" are in fact misconceptions themselves. Welcome to what happens when your next-door-neighbour Joe Blow can edit/admin a page and not check it's correct. I always say Wikipedia is "like an encyclopedia" in the same way that Madonna is like a virgin. Go to reputable sources in the first place (like Maths textbooks for Maths)
https://dotnet.social/@SmartmanApps/115207044364101854@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister I hope nobody takes any source as absolute truth, be it wikipedia or anything else. It's still a great list and a fun starting point to learn new things.
Also, I disagree with your counterexample.
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Fellow fedizens! As decreed by https://xkcd.com/843/ some fifteen years ago, it is once again time to spend the morning reading through the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions.
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@LucasWerkmeister @sandyarmstrong
The problem is that some of their "corrections" are in fact misconceptions themselves. Welcome to what happens when your next-door-neighbour Joe Blow can edit/admin a page and not check it's correct. I always say Wikipedia is "like an encyclopedia" in the same way that Madonna is like a virgin. Go to reputable sources in the first place (like Maths textbooks for Maths)
https://dotnet.social/@SmartmanApps/115207044364101854@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister @sandyarmstrong
This is a really old misconception that, itself, has been debunked. Numerous fact-checks of Wikipedia have found that, even though it contains inaccuracies, it is just as if not more reliable than other Encyclopedias, on top of having more sources you can follow. -
@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister I hope nobody takes any source as absolute truth, be it wikipedia or anything else. It's still a great list and a fun starting point to learn new things.
Also, I disagree with your counterexample.
@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"I hope nobody takes any source as absolute truth" - Maths has proofs, therefore absolutely true. The page including the claim that 0.(9)=1 paradoxically includes the proof that it can never equal 1 - it's a hyperbola with an asymptote of 1
"I disagree with your counterexample" - you can disagree all you want and you'll still be proven wrong by the Maths of infinite sums and hyperbolic graphs, both of which we teach to high school students
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@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister @sandyarmstrong
This is a really old misconception that, itself, has been debunked. Numerous fact-checks of Wikipedia have found that, even though it contains inaccuracies, it is just as if not more reliable than other Encyclopedias, on top of having more sources you can follow.@Raccoon @LucasWerkmeister @sandyarmstrong
"This is a really old misconception that, itself, has been debunked" - says person failing to cite any such "debunking"."Numerous fact-checks of Wikipedia have found that" - there are NO Maths textbooks referenced.
"it is just as if not more reliable than other Encyclopedias" - both of which are way less reliable than Maths textbooks
"on top of having more sources you can follow" - none of which were Maths textbooks
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@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"I hope nobody takes any source as absolute truth" - Maths has proofs, therefore absolutely true. The page including the claim that 0.(9)=1 paradoxically includes the proof that it can never equal 1 - it's a hyperbola with an asymptote of 1"I disagree with your counterexample" - you can disagree all you want and you'll still be proven wrong by the Maths of infinite sums and hyperbolic graphs, both of which we teach to high school students
@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister yes, math has axiomatic truths. But a website (or a fedi post, for that matter) may not be accurate in discussing them.
I think the wikipedia entry here is pretty clear that it is talking about real numbers, in which case 0.(9) is not a hyperbola, but is in fact a rational number, 1.
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@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister yes, math has axiomatic truths. But a website (or a fedi post, for that matter) may not be accurate in discussing them.
I think the wikipedia entry here is pretty clear that it is talking about real numbers, in which case 0.(9) is not a hyperbola, but is in fact a rational number, 1.
@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"yes, math has axiomatic truths" - and literal proofs."may not be accurate in discussing them" - Maths textbooks are, none of which were referenced by the Wiki article.
"it is talking about real numbers" - yep
"in which case 0.(9) is not a hyperbola, but is in fact a rational number, 1" - no, it is in fact 0.(9). It can never equal 1 unless you add a 0.000...0001 to it, but the last digit is always a 9, and add another 9, and add another 9, and...
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@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"yes, math has axiomatic truths" - and literal proofs."may not be accurate in discussing them" - Maths textbooks are, none of which were referenced by the Wiki article.
"it is talking about real numbers" - yep
"in which case 0.(9) is not a hyperbola, but is in fact a rational number, 1" - no, it is in fact 0.(9). It can never equal 1 unless you add a 0.000...0001 to it, but the last digit is always a 9, and add another 9, and add another 9, and...
@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister my friend, let me introduce you to 1/3
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@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister my friend, let me introduce you to 1/3
@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"my friend" - your friend is a Maths teacher. Again, here is a whole thread written about it, including Maths textbooks
https://dotnet.social/@SmartmanApps/115207044364101854 -
@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"my friend" - your friend is a Maths teacher. Again, here is a whole thread written about it, including Maths textbooks
https://dotnet.social/@SmartmanApps/115207044364101854@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister skimming... "1/3 and 0.(3) AREN'T the same number". It looks to me like we aren't going to make any further progress in this conversation.
Have a great day! -
@SmartmanApps @LucasWerkmeister skimming... "1/3 and 0.(3) AREN'T the same number". It looks to me like we aren't going to make any further progress in this conversation.
Have a great day!@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"skimming" - not learning"It looks to me like we aren't going to make any further progress in this conversation" - you can't contradict centuries of proven Maths, no. You can choose to learn about it or not (in fact it would've been taught to you already in high school, as proven by the Maths textbooks).
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@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
"skimming" - not learning"It looks to me like we aren't going to make any further progress in this conversation" - you can't contradict centuries of proven Maths, no. You can choose to learn about it or not (in fact it would've been taught to you already in high school, as proven by the Maths textbooks).
@sandyarmstrong @LucasWerkmeister
P.S. ""1/3 and 0.(3) AREN'T the same number" - go read the part of my thread about Base number systems, and you'll discover why it's literally impossible to represent 1/3 exactly in Base 10. We can represent it exactly in Base 3 - 0.1 - but not in Base 10, which is precisely why it's infinitely recurring. All infinitely recurring numbers are only approximations, hence why we use limits as a substitute for them when we need to do arithmetic with them. -
@Raccoon @LucasWerkmeister my spouse refuses to believe that peanut butter was invented by John Harvey Kellogg and not George Washington Carver.
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Fellow fedizens! As decreed by https://xkcd.com/843/ some fifteen years ago, it is once again time to spend the morning reading through the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions.
@LucasWerkmeister Oh dog, now it's a list of lists
