Equation:
X = Y
Multiply both sides by X
X Squared = Y * X
Subtract Y Squared from both sides
X Squared – Y Squared = Y * X – Y Squared
Factor it out:
( X – Y )( X + Y) = Y (X – Y)
Divide both sides by X – Y
( X – Y )( X + Y) = Y (X – Y)
X - Y… X - Y
This equals:
X + Y = Y
If X = 1 and X = Y Then:
1 + 1 = 1
Added:
2 = 1
Is anyone good at math?
Quote:-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equation:
X = Y
Multiply both sides by X
X Squared = Y * X
Subtract Y Squared from both sides
I think the logic breaks down right here… Its been a while since I’ve had math but at this point it becomes a letter game that looks logical but really dosent work.
You say sub tract y squared from both sides but if you stick with your logic that X = Y then logically that same equation can be written
Xsq. -Ysq. = Ysq.* - Ysq. *(Since X = Y)
which actually zero’s out the equation at that point.
If you continue the way you did, strictly by the letter, at some point your equaton becomes unbalanced ( I haven’t looked that far into it but Im guessing its somewhere in the factoring step) so there your equation is no longer true in that X will no longer equal Y.
I might actually sit down and figure out where it breaks down later but thats what I see right now…
#!/usr/bin/python
y = 4
x = y
print xx ,‘equals’, xy #output 16
print (xx)-(yy) ,‘equals’, (xy)-(yy) # output 0
print (x-y)(x+y),‘equals’, y(x-y) # output 0
print ((x-y)(x+y))/(x-y),‘equals’, (y(x-y))/(x-y) #Divide by zero error here because of the divide by x - y if they are equal its zero…
You added a constraint after doing several algebraic steps. This invalidates the solution. You must start with the constraint X=1 at which point the algebra is all pointless and X=Y=1, or you must release the constraint posed in the middle of your argument in which X=0.
You also divided by zero when you cancelled the X-Y. Yes, they should cancel, but with the given condition of X=Y, then X-Y equals zero.
you fucked up at step 3. you had x^2=xy, then you subtracted y from both sides, which would be (x^2)-y=(xy)-y. If you were to factor that, it would be (x)(x)-y=(x)(y)-y. then to solve, you would divide by x, so you would get x-(y/x)=y-(y/x). Then you add (y/x) to both sides, and you get x=y, thus, 1= (drumroll please) 1
By “fucked up,” I mean you forgot order of operations: (), ^, */, ±.
No he removed y squared, so that’s ok, these problems invariably work out because of a divide by zero error that isn’t apparent at first glance because algebra is used rather than actual numbers. The other common trick is to use algebra which essentially involves the square root of minus 1, which any mathematician will tell you is i (or j if you’re an electronics engineer) and this messes up the following algebra.
Dave
bodmas
Unicycling is half skill, half practice, half determination, and half fearlessness. We’re unicyclists, not mathemeticians.
also, x^2-y^2 does not equal (x-y)(x+y)
(x-y)(x+y)=x^2+2xy+y^2
That’s a minus sign in there, so it is:
(x-y)(x+y)=x^2+xy-yx-y^2
touche
Right, so thats one ‘proof’ shot down in flames, try this one:
Integral of zee squared dee zee
From one to the cube root of three
Times the cosine
Of three pi over nine
Equals log of the cube root of e
Thing is, it works, 
Loose
P.S Sorry if it seems like i’ve highjacked this thread, just thought you might find it interesting. Actually on the subject of this thread, 1+1 = 1 is true, for very small values of 1.
I’ll be darned… it does work! Too bad there isn’t a limerick to help me remember how to do Gaussian integrals… or is there? Where’d you pick up this little rhyme?
To elaborate on your limerick, I had Maple do the math for all to see (below):
> Int(z^2,z=1..3^(1/3))=int(z^2,z=1..3^(1/3));
(1/3)
3
/
| 2
| z dz = 2/3
|
/
1
> Cos(3*Pi/9)=cos(3*Pi/9);
Cos(1/3 Pi) = 1/2
> (2/3)*(1/2);
1/3
> Log(exp(1)^(1/3))=log(exp(1)^(1/3));
(1/3)
Log(exp(1) ) = 1/3
I would say that 8 out of 7 unicyclists are no good at math.
Algebra. Eww. Enjoy it if you like it. For me it’s like eating cooked vegetables that I don’t even like raw.
A great many unicyclists, like an even greater-many jugglers, are math and science nerds. Some of them are scary-smart. Some of them are dangerous-smart. And some, like Harper, are just funky.
It’s a pretty old joke math teachers like to tease their students with (at least over here they do 
). There are several of the same kind; one thing is common in all of them: somewhere in the well-done equasion they divide by zero.
There’s a book I read few years ago (Charles Seife: Zero - The biography of a dangerous idea) in which the author using a similar equasion proves that W. Churchill was a carrot.
…And here I was thinking that he was a potato!
Better than a swede any day, I hate that stuff…
I was actually told that limerick over a friends 18th birthday dinner. I ended up at the intellectuals end of the table (she sat me there, I see why in retrospect) and in amongst the talk of stargate and astrophysics, I tried to tell a math joke (What is the integral of (Cabin’/Cabin)?). Trust them all to come back at me with better ones…
Loose
Log cabin. I like that. I’ve never heard that one before. I think you successfully told a math joke.