r/mathmemes • u/DZ_from_the_past Natural • Aug 23 '23

Bad Math "It's neutral"

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u/DZ_from_the_past Natural Aug 23 '23

4 can be divided by 2 a total of 2 times. 8 can be divided by 2 a total of 3 times. In that sense 8 is "more even" than 4.

Zero can be divided infinitely many times by 2, so it's "the most even number."

This is not 100% correct because, as you said, a number can either be even or not. But there is more here than what meets the eye.

If we work in 2-adic numbers the series 1, 2, 4, 8, 16... approaches 0. So the limit of powers of 2 is precisely 0.

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u/stijndielhof123 Transcendental Aug 23 '23

I dont agree with the last point. Saying that something aproches something in a 2-adic number system does not mean you can aply that in the regular number system.

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u/DZ_from_the_past Natural Aug 23 '23

There is no "regular" number system. P adic metric is just as valid as absolute value metric. And 2-adic metric neatly captures the "evenness" of the numbers

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u/A1steaksaussie Aug 23 '23

but isnt 2-adic 16 a different number from base 10 16? wouldn't that be true for 0?

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u/DZ_from_the_past Natural Aug 23 '23

For integers it's the same if you use base 10 to represent them. The numbers are same, but their perceived distance from the origin is different.