Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Richard Heathfield Newsgroups: comp.theory Subject: Re: Cantor Diagonal Proof Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2025 02:45:39 +0100 Organization: Fix this later Lines: 23 Message-ID: References: <875xjfd5rs.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> <87tt6zblzl.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> <0920ac6e196c1cebeff36d8b9431ee12a7b3d527@i2pn2.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2025 03:45:40 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="3fff1669ce0240e544cc21f2a470e8cc"; logging-data="1992556"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX192o872lORU6Fhe3TY08hfrhyefKg2J+C9CYclOjVQMkQ==" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:LEisknL8AJMcrqGknTM2Ycf8oTU= Content-Language: en-GB In-Reply-To: Bytes: 2665 On 10/04/2025 01:50, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote: > On Mon, 7 Apr 2025 20:48:27 -0400, Richard Damon wrote: > >> The paper clearly talks about the process continuing indefinitely. > > Note the key point about any computation of a computable number is that > the answer *converges* to the exact result in the limit. As you compute > more and more digits, the discrepancy between your approximation and the > correct answer can be made as close to zero as you like, just as long as > you don’t ask for it to be zero. > > The Cantor construction does not converge. It doesn't have to, because computing a number isn't its job. Its job is to explain why, no matter how many numbers you have, your list is at least one short. -- Richard Heathfield Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk "Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999 Sig line 4 vacant - apply within