The Palindrome

The Palindrome

How to add infinitely many numbers together?

Exploring the surprising world of infinite series and their rearrangements

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Tivadar Danka
May 25, 2023
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/imagine the foundations of mathematics, salvador dali style, oil on canvas --ar 16:9 --v 5

Adding two numbers together is one of the very first things we learn in school.

We practice addition and multiplication tables so much that it becomes second nature. Addition feels boring.

However, once we add an infinite number of terms, things get really crazy. For instance, look at what happens when we sum the alternating sequence of 1-s and (-1)-s.

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