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smolder
1973 days ago
Is this an antijoke or did I just need to know where it's going, like the bartender? Maybe the bartender is confused?
2 comments
Thorondor
1973 days ago
The joke is that the Ramanujan sum of 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... is equal to -1/12, so the check should be $3 * -1/12 = minus one quarter. [0]
[0]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_%2B_2_%2B_3_%2B_4_%2B_%E2%8B...
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smolder
1973 days ago
Thanks, that's a bit of math trivia I either forgot or never learned.
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evanb
1973 days ago
This joke relies on the listener knowing that the regularized sum of 1+2+3+... = -1/12.
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enriquto
1973 days ago
That's what makes it funny!
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[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_%2B_2_%2B_3_%2B_4_%2B_%E2%8B...