How will the universe end?

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Back on topic - it'll be a cliffhanger so folks will want to watch part 2

 

[Profpointy]

42

Surprisingly 42 is not merely "the answer to life, the universe and everything" but is in fact also the largest number is this proof shows. It is a proof by contradiction, a well established and elegant approach.

if 42 is NOT the largest number (which we'll call 'n') so we have

n > 42

which rearranges to

n-42 > 0

cube both sides

(n-42)^3 > 0

Multiplied out

n^3 - 126n^2 + 5292n -74088 > 0

Now we add n to both sides

n^3 -126n^2 + 5293n -74088 > n

However that means the left hand side is greater than n, which we defined to be the largest number, given a contradiction so our inassumption that n > 42 is wrong and the biggest number was in fact 42 all along

(proof above is from Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures)

 

[Yellow Fang]

I was reading somewhere on the interweb that the reason alien life has not come calling yet is that the universe is still to warm. They reckon any alien life that intelligent would upload themselves digitally to computers, then wait several trillion years for the universe to cool to just over absolute zero. For reasons of thermodynamics, computer processing is much more efficient when it is cold.

 

[classic33]

I was reading somewhere on the interweb that the reason alien life has not come calling yet is that the universe is still to warm. They reckon any alien life that intelligent would upload themselves digitally to computers, then wait several trillion years for the universe to cool to just over absolute zero. For reasons of thermodynamics, computer processing is much more efficient when it is cold.

You saying we only exist on a computer, somewhere.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Surprisingly 42 is not merely "the answer to life, the universe and everything" but is in fact also the largest number is this proof shows. It is a proof by contradiction, a well established and elegant approach.

if 42 is NOT the largest number (which we'll call 'n') so we have

n > 42

which rearranges to

n-42 > 0

cube both sides

(n-42)^3 > 0

Multiplied out

n^3 - 126n^2 + 5292n -74088 > 0

Now we add n to both sides

n^3 -126n^2 + 5293n -74088 > n

However that means the left hand side is greater than n, which we defined to be the largest number, given a contradiction so our inassumption that n > 42 is wrong and the biggest number was in fact 42 all along

(proof above is from Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures)

Well ..... errrr ...... The algebra is indisputable

 

[Profpointy]

Well ..... errrr ...... The algebra is indisputable

As Prof Stewart puts it in his (rather fun) book "clearly something has gone wrong, but what?"

It's quite subtle yet profound

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

As Prof Stewart puts it in his (rather fun) book "clearly something has gone wrong, but what?"

It's quite subtle yet profound

The assumption. It's always the assumption

 

[Yellow Fang]

You saying we only exist on a computer, somewhere.

Good point.

 

[classic33]

Good point.

In that case, the lights go out when they forget to pay the electric bill.

 

[Yellow Fang]

In that case, the lights go out when they forget to pay the electric bill.

Yes, but provided everything runs on non-volatile memory, we'll carry on without noticing when they flick the power back on.