Imagine you are holding one end of a rope that stretches out to an infinite length. As you travel along in the direction of the rope, you find that it never stops. But anyone traveling back in your direction would find an end - the end that you are holding. So, can the rope you are holding really be described as infinitely long... or just partly infinite? Now Imagine this rope as a metaphor for Time...
2007-02-27 23:27:37 · 6 answers · asked by Stewart 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
The mathematics of set theory answers your question. A set can be either finite or infinite but not both. An infinite set is defined as one whose members can be put into one-to-one correspondence with a subset of itself.
In geometry, a ray has one endpoint but goes to infinity in one direction. A ray is an infinite set of points.
A plane or a 3-D space could have a boundary on one end but still go to infinity in other directions. this is not a controdiction.
Time had a begining at the big bang but it might go on to infinity in the future.
2007-02-28 13:27:48 · answer #1 · answered by Jeffrey K 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you are missing the point of infinity. If the rope is of infinite length then there is no other end for a person to start at and travel back to you. If an object has two known end points, even if the end points are not known to one individual, is not infinite.
2007-02-28 00:22:17 · answer #2 · answered by Brian K² 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
People are divided over whether n-n=0 even where n is infinite. It is a classic quantum physics question e.g. Shroedigers cat et al (having one of two opposite properties, but with no way of knowing which so a mathematical allowance needs to be made). Just because you are holding the zero end, this makes no judgement on the n end.
Remember time is only the 4th dimension- its is infathomable for our minds. Put a 2D man on a sphere and he will think it infinite.
2007-02-28 01:20:17 · answer #3 · answered by Peter F 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to further define your problem IMHO. For example, if you start your journey along an infinite rope and someone else discovered it a thousand miles out and traveled toward you, your problem is 'solved' without violating infinity. If you say that the other person started their trip at infinity (and you are at the other 'end' of infinity) perhaps you both could never meet because the distance between you (by definition) is infinity.
2007-02-27 23:38:44 · answer #4 · answered by Kes 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
no it is only infinite.
Imagine a number line stretching from 1 to infinite you go from 1 looking for infinite and you dont find it and you can come back to one but you can go further till -ve - infinite
2007-03-03 22:49:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
humorous tale answer: it extremely is referred to as being stoned. severe answer: Infinity isn't a theory that human beings can fairly comprehend. working example; god is declared to be countless, having no beginning up and no end yet surely it extremely is meaningless to widely used logic. after all, in all human journey each and every thing has a beginning up and each thing has an end. besides the undeniable fact that we are able to percieve the continuity of existance we can't fairly comprehend what it extremely is to be countless. consequently human beings are in basic terms finite creatures and as such can not be countless. uninteresting answer: Finite and countless are antonyms, look 'em up interior the dictionary.
2016-11-26 20:10:54 · answer #6 · answered by sutkus 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋