12 mo. ago • 29%

A number chosen truly at random will have infinite digits

30 comments

That’s not how that works.

22
- Doesn't it depends on whether we are talking about real or integer numbers?
  
  EDIT: I think it also works with p-adic numbers.
  
  3
  
  No. In the set of real numbers it is still very possible to randomly select a number that can be written with finite digits.
  
  2
No it wouldn't. You don't understand how random works

11
No, if truly random it could be any number from 0 to infinity. The randomization doesn't impart any qualities to the selected number.

If you randomly selected numbers from the infinite range of numbers for an infinite number of time, you would get a result of "7" just as often as getting "3.456e11".

10
- The probability of getting a finite number is pretty much zero.
  
  For any range [0; n], where n is finite, there are always infinitely many numbers larger than n, so the probability of getting a number in said range is n/(n+infinity). I feel very confident in saying that something with that probability will never happen.
  
  2
  
  The probability of getting any number with a given set of characteristics is pretty much 0, but that doesn’t mean the number doesn’t exist once generated.
  
  1
  
  If there's any probability of an event, on an infinite timeline, it occurs infinite times.
  
  0
I see what you're saying (assuming you mean a random integer from 0 to infinity), but it couldn't really, since there's no such thing as an integer with infinite digits - any random integer will have finite number of digits.

The real problem is there's no way to choose a random number from 0 to infinity. Every finite number has a probability of 0, and in fact, for any number you choose, there is 0 probability that it will be less than that number. Note that 0 probability is different from "impossible" - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_surely

7
I think it's right

Edit:

TIL: when saying random numbers, some people think to integers, others to real numbers.

5
- I also think that's correct... if we are talking about real numbers.
  
  People are probably thinking about integers. I'm not sure about OP.
  
  EDIT: I think it also works with p-adic numbers.
  
  6
  
  Yes real numbers, but as far as I'm aware it'll happen for integers too almost surely
  
  2
Wait, are you high in the shower? Because that's a little different.

5
why?

3
- Oh my God it's spez
  
  9
  
  Is he here to fuck lemmy up too?
  
  4
  
  👋 👋
  
  1
- Permanently Deleted
  
  2
- fuck you
  
  1
are we counting an infinite number of zeroes after the decimal point, as having infinite digits? because if you specifically exclude while numbers, your output would not be truly random, though it would be essentially impossible to distinguish it from true randomness.

2
Permanently Deleted

2
Why would it have infinite digits? It is just as like to be 0.

1
yes, don't listen to the biologists who tell you otherwise.

0

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