Amhuxt.391 net.math utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ihnss!eagle!mhuxt!rwhaas Wed Mar 17 11:34:57 1982 Re: You Too Can Be A Math Genius Of course there is nothing wrong with the proof that .999... is equal to 1. In general, x = a + ar + ar^2 + ... r*x = ar + ar^2 + ... and on subtraction, x(1-r) = a or x = a/(1-r) the usual sum of a geometric series. In the example given, take a=.9 and r=.01. Roy Haas (Bell Labs, Indian Hill) ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.