GaDaMIt said:
Also.. after more thought..
1 doesn't equal 0.9999...
think about it...
the working has a minor flaw..
if x = 0.999...
then 10x = 9.999...
well.. at the very far right hand corner of the 0.999... when its multiplied by 10 the digits need to shift to the left .. the rounding obtained here is not considered because it is so slight.. i think.. not really sure how to word this better.. sorry
not sure.. just a thought
But there is no far right hand corner
Maybe this will make sense, 1/3 = 0.3333333...... by primary school maths.
Now, multiplying both sides by 10 gives
10/3 = 3.33333333...........
There is no end to those 3's either, more importantly, no right hand corner for there to be a zero or rounding error
But, for the sake of argument, let's say that there was a right hand end and a rounding error, then ...
10/3 must be 3.33333....... minus some rounding error right? That is, we've added an extra 3 on to the 'end'. I'll call that rounding error RE.
So we have,
10/3 - 1/3 = 3.33333333.......... - RE - 0.333333333.........
9/3 = 3.000000....... - RE
3 = 3.0000000.......... - RE
By kindergarten maths, that rounding error must be zero. So there really wasn't a rounding error after all
I choose a third because people are used to that number by now, but the same argument applies to 0.99999.... ofcourse.
Hopefully that makes sense and helps.