29 August 2009

4 equals 5


In a previous post, I showed that 4 = 3. Now this proof from Futility Closet demonstrates that 4 also equals 5.

If this interests you, now might be a good time to dig into TYWKIWDBI's (reasonably brief) math section.

11 comments:

  1. The error is in step 2. Factoring the fractions should result in 4*(1/4) on the left and 5*(1/5) on the right.

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  2. if this equation was correct, then every number we know would equal other numbers-any number, that is!

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  3. Nice try, but that doesn't work i'm afraid - and the other examples on Futility Closet don't work either, they're all forgetting something or misusing a maths step.

    Or this is all just a joke?

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  4. Its fun think about though

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  5. it's not even that fun. it's like saying pig is meat, cow is meat, therefore pig is cow. It's just stupid. There are better and more interesting examples of proving falseties.

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  6. Ev and others - this puzzle (and the other ones at the links) aren't meant to be taken seriously. It's a form of (geeky) humor.

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  7. Well.... ok! :)

    I'm glad though. And the fun bit was me trying to figure out what the wrong bit was.

    Also, to me it makes point in social commentary: how people can be fooled and not accepting mathematical truths.

    To get serious, I would bring up examples of Creationists falsely misinterpreting science to make argue against scientific theories/facts (delibrately or not). This is what I thought when I saw these puzzles.

    But maybe I'm taking this too far - it was just a joke ;)

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  8. but actually 4 does equal 5 haha:
    -20=-20
    -36+16=-45+25
    -36+16-(81/4)=-45+25-(81/4)
    (4-(9/2))^2=(5-(9/2))^2
    4-(9/2)=5-(9/2)
    4=5

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