
Life on the Infinite Farm [pdf] - polm23
https://www.math.brown.edu/~res/farm.pdf
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MichaelMoser123
I wonder what the intended age group is. These animals are a bit scary -
imagine an infinite row of sharp teeth and infinite number of tentacles going
after you (on the bright side it would take infinite time to mobilize them
all);

i got scared by the yellow submarine as a kid, interesting if real kids like
it.

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peterkelly
> _I wonder what the intended age group is_

Stoned grad students? ;)

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hashin
While I thoroughly enjoyed the piece, I am not sure how much an untrained mind
would appreciate the whole idea.

I can't really judge without going through the material that accompanies the
slides, but I am really skeptical about what a normal child takes away from
this.

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rnernento
I'm a relatively intelligent adult who hasn't previously considered any of
these problems or spent much time thinking about infinity. This was perfect
for me, I developed an understanding of the problem and solutions in a short
amount of time. It was a great read and I felt like I learned something, not
sure I can ask for more...

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not sure this is even targeted at children.

~~~
Retric
Meh, infinity is not a number. If you want kids to look at it like a
mathematician you just need to show infinity as a process and leave Lovecraft
horror behind.

Here is a circular track. Little ant walks around it counting every number.
Where does he stop? Well he never stops!

What happens if he needs to two bags. Well if he picks the first up and leaves
the other while counting he will never go back. But, he if picks one up moves
it an inch, goes back to the other then they both keep moving forward without
stopping.

You can't say he stops sooner without the bags because he never stops! You can
say he moves faster without the bags.

PS: If you use this mental model you realise the cow walking forward would
never stop stepping into the next set shoe. It would look like a wave where
you have infinity and a wave heading at it, but never reaching it. Thus, your
not adding 1 to infinity and she never stands on more shoes or adds more legs.

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kdamken
I didn't realize someone slipped acid into my coffee this morning.

This was a book of nightmares. Something about the drawings was a bit
unsettling, especially the person at the end.

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okket
My personal favourite to illustrate infinity (as possible) and some math
concepts around it is still the video "How To Count Past Infinity" from
Vsauce:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrU9YDoXE88](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrU9YDoXE88)

"This is math, not science." (~12:30)

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bbctol
This has been going around the internet as an example of when trying to teach
kids fun facts slips into terrifying Lovecraftian evil.

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polm23
This is an overview of the mathematics of infinity, lovingly illustrated with
examples like an infinite cow, an infinite chicken, bubblegum... It's a
curious transmission from a more chaotic universe.

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pelotom
Cute alternate version of Hilbert's grand hotel.

