When 2 + 2 = 5..?

Question

why is that?

Answer 1

That is when something seems very obvious depending on all of the facts but in your mind and in your gut you just know that something still isn't right.

Answer 2

Synergyst. You are getting more than what you expect. 2 + 2 = 5.

Answer 3

It was always my belief that the basis of philosphy was asking clear and meaningful questions.

Here we have two (2) questions; the first being "When 2+2+5...?", the second "why is that?" Niether of these follow gramatical conventions as to what forms a "proper" question, but be that as it may, while we might have meaningful, we certainly don't have clear, as is indicated by the answers given. Most of them seem to be answering only one question, which could be phrased as "Sometimes 2+2=5; how is that possible?", or perhaps "When can 2+2=5?" While more or less creative and interesting, these answers address niether of the actual given questions.

"When 2+2+5...?" (by use of "...") implies that something missing is to be supplied. Depending on which Philosophical School you're dealing with, appropriate answers might be "all is right with the the world", "you are free to decide for yourself", "God is trully dead", "it's time for another round of peyote", or "a fish".

As to the second question, it is perhaps best viewed as rhetorical, and in fact the contemplation of such could be seen as the basis of most, if not all, capital 'p' Philosphy. Granted not as popular as the more traditional "why are we here?", but in essence could be construed as equalivalent, or at least as a corollary.

Now I must return to my fulminations - which currently revolve around the Unmoved Mover's contemplation of Itself in juxtaposition to the antics of my really cute goldfish.

Answer 4

Subjective truth. If that is what you believe, be it so.
The ordinal number 2 could represent an integer of 3 or it could represent mixed number of 2.5
But objectively, as we learned in Mathematics the certain truth is that, an ordinal number 2 represents only 2.
Beyond this knowledge comes a reason that after all, ordinal numbers may have a different representations, aside from the acquired knowledge we learned.

Answer 5

if the base of 1 is 1.25 than 2=2.5 and then 2+2=5 (in base one) in base 1.25 , 2+2 =4

Answer 6

That is a little trick we learned some time back....
2+2=5 is so because....
You have two 2.3's and you want to round them off to the nearest number. However, 2.3+2.3=4.6

So...you round the answer up to 5. And there you have it: 2+2=5.

Answer 7

2+2 can never = 5. it is physically impossible. people say that when they are refering to someone making an assumption eg. my boyfriend went out last night and so did my best friend so they are having an affair. you are putting 2 and 2 together and making 5

Answer 8

There are several examples of when the sum of the parts don't equal the total:

The value of a house....if you add up all the costs to build a house, it never matches the appraised value.

The value of a marriage....two people equals 1 or more kids in addition to the couple.

There are other examples, but i can't remember off hand. I answered this 6 or 7 months ago.

Answer 9

2 + 2 equals 4. It is always that. There is no why.

Answer 10

You might call 2+2=5 a "Baker's Four."

Answer 11

if you do it wrongly then 2+2 equals 5