Description

Overview:

This popular maths talk gives an introduction to various different kinds of infinity, both countable and uncountable. These concepts are illustrated in a somewhat informal way using the notion of Hilbert's infinite hotel. In this talk, the hotel manager tries to fit various infinite collections of guests into the hotel. The students should learn that many apparently different types of infinity are really the same size. However, there are genuinely "more" real numbers than there are positive integers, as is shown in the more challenging final section, using Cantor's diagonalization argument.

Subject:

Mathematics

Level:

High School, Community College / Lower Division, College / Upper Division, Adult Education

Grades:

Grade 12

Material Type:

Lecture, Lecture Notes

Author:

Dr Joel Feinstein

Provider:

University of Nottingham

Date Added:

03/23/2017