Restored 0.999~ to article. Ironic how the removal justification, is exactly what the entry describes. 0.999~ does indeed equal one. Not a logic trick. It is mathematical proof. For uninitiated, see the following Wikipedia article as a primer (for lack of a better word):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0.999
If you wish to argue that 0.999~ does not equal 1, please cite noteworthy mathematician and analytic proof.
I'll begin that 0.999~ does indeed equal 1.
EDIT: The following arguments are borrowed from the following (they're better than the one I originally used), which then goes into wonderful details on why they system must function this way:
http://math.fau.edu/Richman/HTML/999.htm
Argument #1:
x = 0.999...
10x = 9.999...
9x = 9
x = 1
Argument #2:
1/3 = 0.333...
1 = 0.999...
Argument #3:
0.999... = 9/10 + 9/100 + 9/1000 + ...
(9/10)/(1-1/10) = 1
Edited by Nargrakhan Hide / Show Replies
... what in god's name does this even have to do with the trope?
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It's a real world example of something causing a Heroic BSoD in people. Specifically mathematicians. There's a long held argument that "0.999… = 1" is not true. People who've made "straight A's" in math will argue various reasons why. I've seen students angry at a professor for providing various proofs, and said students suddenly creating "pesudo math" to discount the evidence because it boggles their mind.
There's been hundreds of arguments throughout history on the equation. It's one of the topics that drove Georg Cantor to the sanatorium.
In the end, "0.999… = 1" is the final answer. You have to utilize hyperreal numbers to not get that... and even then "0.999… = 1" is still correct.
Math. Making peoples' head hurt since we learned how to count.
Edited by Nargrakhan
That's still a massive shoehorn to an unrelated trope.
"Something is a confusing concept" is not this trope. Especially since the closest thing to a connection to this trope is that not understanding it supposedly causes the madness.
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And indeed that's the root of the problem. Those who argue against it do not understand and start to use irrational logic to justify what they are interpreting. They refuse to accept — cannot perceive — what is being presented before them.
Then proceed to throw away everything they've learned, and making up falsehoods to create a reality they can accept (i.e. proofs that 0.999~ does not equal 1).
It's a well documented situation. Hence the existence of proofs all over the place, proving (or trying to disprove) the entire matter.
Ah... looks like we're having an edit war.
Requesting for a moderator to weigh in for judgement.
You are wrong about proof or lack therefore of. There is indeed proof: Algebraic, Analytic, and Construction of the Real Numbers. See Wikipedia article for the equations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0.999
0.999~ = 1 is a mathematical truth, and disputing it indicates some pretty fundamental ignorance. That said, it in no way fits the definition of the trope: a piece of bizarre or eldritch knowledge, the simple knowing of which can drive a person to madness. It is not a thing that can happen in real life.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
The short story "The Testament of Magdalen Blair" by Aleister Crowley (yes, that Aleister Crowley) is about a woman who develops a telepathic rapport with her husband that doesn't end with his death, meaning that she gets to find out what happens to you in the afterlife. It turns out that your soul decays along with the rest of you, but you retain some sort of hideous awareness until you're nothing but dry bones.
She therefore attempts to buy enough dynamite to completely destroy her physical body, because being vaporized right now is preferable to the risk of living any longer, possibly dropping dead at any moment, and having to undergo that ultimate horror. However, the story implies that, rather than her being driven insane by her ordeal, her response is the only one that a sane person could make, and we'd all do the same if we knew what she did. So does this count?
Does Big Hero 6 really qualify? Hiro doesn't lose control of hos faculties, though he does get very angry. I wouldn't describe his grief as madness.