Classical Mathematical Fallacies #1

This is a classical mathematical fallacies. At hindsight, everything looks perfectly fine.

“2=1” Mathematical Fallacy

So did you manage to spot the error? It is at line 5, where we divide both sides of the equation by $a-b$ . Now this is mathematical alright, but in this case, it is not! notice that $a-b=0$ on the account that we started with $a=b$ . And we need to be reminded that we cannot divide anything by zero.

About

KS Teng

KS has been teaching H2/H1 Mathematics and IB mathematics for the more than 10 years. Having taught students from all various Junior Colleges, KS adapts to students' abilities and help them better understand the topics. As someone who loves to teach mathematics and sees it as a truly useful tool in life, KS seeks to enable students to appreciate math. Therefore, his tuition mission is to motivate and cultivate students to be independent and confident thinkers.

Comments

pingbacks / trackbacks

List of Great and Helpful Math Articles – The Culture SG
[…] 13. Common Pitfalls in A’levels Math #3 14. Why is anything to the power of 0 always 1? 15. Classical Mathematical Fallacies #1 16. Classical Mathematical Fallacies #2 17. Classical Mathematical Fallacies #3 18. Confusion on […]
February 23rd, 2017 08:51 PM

Cart

Classical Mathematical Fallacies #1

Leave a Comment
Cancel reply

Classical Mathematical Fallacies #1

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Leave a Comment
Cancel reply