- Infinity plus one
In
popular culture , infinity plus 1 is a phrase used in relation to the notion ofinfinity as the largest possible number. The idea is that no such number should exist.In
mathematics , however, "infinity plus 1" has meaning as the number ω + 1 in theordinal number s andsurreal number s. Alternatively, if "infinity" is interpreted as any specificcardinal number κ ≥ in cardinal arithmetic, then "infinity plus 1" = κ + 1 = κ.The phrase is sometimes found in children's culture by those who have discovered the concept of
infinity . When one child makes a reference toinfinity , another may try to best them by making a similar reference to "infinity plus one". One example of this is when children come up with adare , and subsequently return the dare, multiplied by increasingly higher values, for example::"Child 1: "I dare you ...":"Child 2: "I
double dare you.":"Child 1: "Itriple dare you.":"Child 2: "I dare you times a million.":"Child 1: "I dare you timesinfinity .":"Child 2: "I dare you times infinity plus one."This sort of exchange has been used in many popular
television program s, such asThe Simpsons and Timon and Pumbaa.References
*cite journal |last=Monaghan |first=John |title=Young Peoples' Ideas of Infinity |format= |journal=Educational Studies in Mathematics |year=2001 |volume=48 |pages=239–257 |doi=10.1023/A:1016090925967
*cite journal |last=Shulman |first=Polly |title=Infinity Plus One, and Other Surreal Numbers |journal=Discover |volume=16 |issue=12 |year=1995 |month=December |url=http://www.discover.com/issues/dec-95/features/infinityplusonea599/ |format=dead link|date=June 2008 – [http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3AShulman+intitle%3AInfinity+Plus+One%2C+and+Other+Surreal+Numbers&as_publication=Discover&as_ylo=1995&as_yhi=1995&btnG=Search Scholar search]
*cite journal |last=Tall |first=David |title=A child thinking about infinity |journal=Journal of Mathematical Behavior |volume=20 |issue=1 |year=2001 |pages=7–19 |url=http://www.warwick.ac.uk/staff/David.Tall/pdfs/dot2001l-childs-infinity.pdf |doi=10.1016/S0732-3123(01)00058-X
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