Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I enjoy the math versions.

"Theorem" version:

Every integer is interesting. (Otherwise, one number would be the smallest uninteresting integer. And that would be of notable interest.)

"Paradox" version:

What is the largest number that cannot be described in fewer than 100 characters?

Or even the classic paradox by Russell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_paradox

Does the set of all sets that do not include themselves include itself?

---

The essence of all these is the malformed self-referential definition. The surprise/interestingness/definition/inclusion is "defined" recursively in such a way as to be actually not well defined.




> the largest number that cannot be described in fewer than 100 characters

Almost certainly you mean the smallest number (= positive integer), no? (One doesn't automatically expect that the existence of some positive integer satisfying a property means that there is a largest such.)


Oops.

Yeah, smallest.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: