News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:A Bad Trip to Infinity by nico on Sunday March 26, 2023 @01:33AM (#35311342)
Neither the reals nor the naturals “exist”. We produce them as we need them.

Reals and naturals both have the same number of symbols: unknowable (“infinity”).

> Feel free to give me a generator function and I will give you a finite number that it cannot reach in finite steps.

f(n)=n

If you give n to that formula, it will generate n in 1 step.

> On the other hand, try giving me a finite positive integer that I cannot reach in finite steps.

Can’t come up with one. As long as is finite you can always just output the number itself.

Anything finite is countable. Anything infinite is unknowable.

Re:A Bad Trip to Infinity by haneul on Sunday March 26, 2023 @02:43AM (#35311736)
Nono. F(n) where n is the number of steps, not the desired number. You’ve got it backwards. The number is the output, not the input.
Re:A Bad Trip to Infinity by nico on Sunday March 26, 2023 @10:18AM (#35314702)
N was the number of steps, but sure:

F(x)=x, will give you x in one step.