Math Is Fun Forum

burningleo

Member

Registered: 2007-04-10

Posts: 24

Re: What Did Start Every???

maybe we weren't the first humans on this planet and everything is like a cycle and right now we are  in this cycle and the previous humans didn't  leave anything behind because they where at the end of the cycle there stuff was all biodegradeble and after them are earth pretty much restarted and they were all wiped out by something like a meteor so they  all died everything starts over and we still here wondering bout how stuff happens

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What was, was and whats here is now

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: What Did Start Every???

Interesting theory, but if it were true then we'd probably have found some kind of evidence that they existed by now.

For example, the dinosaurs were also made extinct by meteors (says the current popular theory), but we've found lots of their fossils and things so we know quite a lot about them.

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Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

Ricky

Moderator

Registered: 2005-12-04

Posts: 3,791

Re: What Did Start Every???

what if the time has existed forever?

Then our fundamental understanding of physics is wrong.  The second law of thermodynamics says that in a closed system, all things tend towards disorder.  So either the universe is not a closed system like we understand it to be, or you can create energy (and thus, can create mass).

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"In the real world, this would be a problem.  But in mathematics, we can just define a place where this problem doesn't exist.  So we'll go ahead and do that now..."

Identity

Member

Registered: 2007-04-18

Posts: 934

Re: What Did Start Every???

I think we discussed the issue of finding whatever you want inside pi before. Someone said, which I believe, that just because no detectable sequence can be found, that does not mean the digits are random, and we're not garanteed to find anything we want. Probably impossible to prove or disprove that though.

If there was a detectable sequence in pi, it would be able to be expressed as a ratio or fraction, wouldn't it? And I thought euler (or maybe somebody else) disproved that.

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: What Did Start Every???

Not necessarily. A number such as 0.1234567891011121314151617181920... is completely predictable and you know exactly what the next digit is going to be each time, but it's still irrational.

For a number to be expressed as a fraction, its decimal form must either terminate at some point or reach a point where the digits start repeating themselves.

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Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.