0.999... (also denoted [0.9 with a bar on top of 9] or [0.9 with a dot on top of 9] is a recurring decimal which is exactly equal to 1. In other words, the symbols 0.999… and 1 represent the same real number. Mathematicians have formulated a number of proofs of this identity, which vary with their level of rigor, preferred development of the real numbers, background assumptions, historical context and target audience. The equality 0.999… = 1 has long been taught in textbooks, and in the last few decades, researchers of mathematics education have studied the reception of this equation among students, who often vocally reject the equality. Their reasoning is often based on an expectation that infinitesimal quantities should exist, that arithmetic may be broken, or simply that 0.999… should have a last 9. These ideas are false in the real numbers, as can be proven by explicitly constructing the reals from the rational numbers, and such constructions can also prove that 0.999… = 1 directly.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1147: Reconquista: Forces under King Afonso I of Portugal captured Lisbon from the Moors after a four-month siege during the Second Crusade. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Lisbon)
1415: Hundred Years' War: Henry V of England and his lightly armoured infantry and archers defeated the heavily armoured French cavalry in the Battle of Agincourt on Saint Crispin's Day. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt)
1616: The Dutch sailing ship Eendracht reached Shark Bay on the western coastline of Australia, as documented on the Hartog Plate. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eendracht_(1615_ship))
1922: The Third Dáil adopted the Constitution of the Irish Free State. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Irish_Free_State)
1971: The People's Republic of China replaced the Republic of China as China's representative at the United Nations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_and_the_United_Nations)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
A man doesn't begin to attain wisdom until he recognizes that he is no longer indispensable. -- Richard E. Byrd (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_E._Byrd)
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