4 Comments
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Mark Phillips's avatar

I love this Vonnegut quote!

Sam's avatar

I came to the same math understanding too late when I struggled with linear algebra. If I had just "accepted" it earlier (rather than try to "intuit" it) I may have actually become an engineer 😂

mani malagón's avatar

Just to help out a bit (😅, 😅)

2^(1/2), 2^(1/3), 2^(1/4), 2^(1/5), 2^(1/6), …, 2^(0).

Here are values (rounded):

2^(1/2) = √2 ≈ 1.41421356

2^(1/3) ≈ 1.25992105

2^(1/4) = 2^(0.25) ≈ 1.18920712

2^(1/5) ≈ 1.14869835

2^(1/6) ≈ 1.12246205

… =>(values decrease toward 1 as denominator increases & power decreases to 0) =>2^0 = 1

■ Intuitively as "radial stretching". Geometric (unit‑circle) analogy:

Euler’s formula e^{iθ}=cosθ+i sinθ maps rotations on the unit circle.

e^{t} (real t) is a radial stretching by factor e^{t}; 2^(1/n)=e^{t} is a small radial stretch when t=(ln2)/n is small.

So as n increases, the stretch approaches 1 (no radial change), analogous to shrinking a rotation/stretch toward the identity on the complex plane.

Kris Abdelmessih's avatar

You're making me want to take math again! Don't really understand it but it looks fun