-1/12 beers * $3 / beer = -$0.25
negative -> pay them for taking the beer
The -1/12 result is pretty widely known, but not particularly true. It's called "analytic continuation." There's a nonrigorous proof that's accessible at a highschool level - see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_%2B_2_%2B_3_%2B_4_%2B_%E2%8B...)
Delightfully, this comes up in string theory, in computing the dimensionality of spacetime.
The catch is that this isn't valid in what we consider standard mathematics, and you can find many discussions of this online, but this one is fairly short and straightforward: http://curiouscheetah.com/BlogMath/infinity-and-string-theor...
-1/12 beers * $3 / beer = -$0.25
negative -> pay them for taking the beer
The -1/12 result is pretty widely known, but not particularly true. It's called "analytic continuation." There's a nonrigorous proof that's accessible at a highschool level - see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_%2B_2_%2B_3_%2B_4_%2B_%E2%8B...)
Delightfully, this comes up in string theory, in computing the dimensionality of spacetime.