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August 06, 2003

Zeno's Paradox, Finally Solved?

This article claims that a 20 year old amateur scientist in New Zealand has solved the age-old paradox of Zeno, which states that you can never travel to any point in space since you have to travel half the distance, and then half of half the distance, etc.

Posted on August 06, 2003 at 10:41 AM in Science |

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Comments

ADP

Yep and logically this would only stands if we ALSO reduce our size by the same coefficient of our physical body, so basically if I travel 1/nth of the distance I also must shrink 1/nth of my own size etc... then, provided the minimum distance is twice the length of my foot, indeed I would NEVER reach my destination... but we are now approaching either science fiction OR we are travelling through a universe in constant expansion which sums it up basically...Over to you kiwi boy!;-)

Posted by: ADP | October 21, 2004 at 08:42 PM

milkFilk

This is nothing new though. Zeno's paradox is flawed logic. So it's no wonder that this amateur solves it in a simple statement.

We can divide any amount of finite distance into an infinite number of pieces. We can especially divide infinitely in terms of non-physical calculations. It is much harder to do so in the physical world.

But why 1/2 the distance? Why not 1/3 or 1/4? Could I not invent "milkFilk's paradox where I can't travel anywhere because I'm only traveling 1/3 the distance?

Could I not complete a 24-hour period because I'm constantly existing 12 hours, then 6 hours, then 3 etc, ad nauseum.

I don't understand how this bit of inventive discovery lasted 2,500 years...

Posted by: milkFilk | February 18, 2004 at 06:34 AM

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