Featured Post

Are Real Numbers Really Real?

Find PDF version here. Any Real Number Let r be any real number. Let r' be a nearest neighbor to r. \begin{equation...

Showing posts with label real numbers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label real numbers. Show all posts

Saturday, November 7, 2026

Are Real Numbers Really Real?

Find PDF version here.

Any Real Number

Let r be any real number. Let r' be a nearest neighbor to r.

\begin{equation} r = r' - \epsilon \hspace{.5 cm} (\epsilon \geq 0) \end{equation}

If $\epsilon > 0$, then $r$ and $r'$ are discrete, not continuous, and do not exist as real numbers. If $\epsilon = 0$, then $r = r'$ and neither $r$ nor $r'$ exist as distinguishable real numbers.

Therefore, no real number can be proven to be a distinguishable, continuous real number.

The Set of Real Numbers

Does the set of real numbers exist? If members of a set are discrete, then a set of continuous numbers cannot exist. If members of a set need not be discrete, the set of real numbers can be represented as follows:

\begin{equation} \mathbb{R} = \lim_{n\to\infty}[r-n\epsilon,...,r-2\epsilon,r-\epsilon,r,r +\epsilon, r+2\epsilon, ..., r+ n\epsilon] \end{equation}

Once again, if $\epsilon > 0$, the members of $\mathbb{R}$ are discrete. If $\epsilon = 0$, then $\mathbb{R}$ has only $r$ as its one and only member, or, if it is also true that $n=\infty$, $\mathbb{R}$ has member $r$ and two additional undefined members. Therefore, the set of real numbers $\mathbb{R}$ does not exist as we understand it.

The False Premise

Premise: The set of real numbers exists.

Any proof based on the above premise is unsound.