How to explain infinity to kids
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How to explain infinity to kids
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Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#2> A professor of mine once said to me that all teaching was a process of lying, and then of replacing the lies with successively better approximations of the truth.
Well put! I'm in the process of explaining my 3yo daughter different molecules (there are some cheap kits on Aliexpress) and cells and life on a micro scale and this description of moving from simple but inaccurate models to more complex and accurate is something that I've also noticed in my explanations.
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#3> A professor of mine once said to me that all teaching was a process of lying, and then of replacing the lies with successively better approximations of the truth. Well put! I'm in the process of explaining my 3yo daughter different molecules (there are some cheap kits on Aliexpress) and cells and life on a micro scale and this description of moving from simple but inaccurate models to more complex and accurate is s…
I once read a critique of high school science textbooks which pointed out the great many "lies" that could be found even in the best of them - basically highly inaccurate or misleading descriptions and illustrations of basic scientific concepts. The thing is, though, that I recognized a great many of those same "lies" as being in my college science textbooks, too!
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#4THis is one of the best things I have read on HN lately!
I can't wait to use his answer to what infinity is to my kid when he gets old enough to ask such a question.
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#5[deleted]
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#6> A professor of mine once said to me that all teaching was a process of lying, and then of replacing the lies with successively better approximations of the truth.
In philosophy of sciences, it is called "idealization" and "concretization". Many philosophers from Poznan even name this philosophy of science as "Marxist philosophy of science", since Marx uses the technique of idealization and concretization in his work "Das Kapital".
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#7Infinity is a mathematical concept that doesn't actually exist. Just like the infinity gauntlet, it's a made up imaginary thing.
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#8Why so complicated?
Just ask them to do i++ and never stop. That is also infinity.
(or in simpler words, imagine you have a table than you put one apple to it, then one again, amd again and again and never stop. And yes, they would also soon understand, that the table needs to be infinitly big)
edit: of course it is about the sum of the process. they should imagine the pile of things or the number if you never stop adding.
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#9Nitpicking: This article writes 2⋅ω where what's meant is ω⋅2.
Re: How to explain infinity to kids
#10> A professor of mine once said to me that all teaching was a process of lying, and then of replacing the lies with successively better approximations of the truth. Well put! I'm in the process of explaining my 3yo daughter different molecules (there are some cheap kits on Aliexpress) and cells and life on a micro scale and this description of moving from simple but inaccurate models to more complex and accurate is s…
I once read a critique of high school science textbooks which pointed out the great many "lies" that could be found even in the best of them - basically highly inaccurate or misleading descriptions and illustrations of basic scientific concepts. The thing is, though, that I recognized a great many of those same "lies" as being in my college science textbooks, too!
Like tides?
What Physics Teachers Get Wrong About Tides! | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwChk4S99i4