[athrowaway3z]

I think a big issue with how we teach math, is the casualness with which we introduce children to floating points.

Its like: Hey little Bobby, now that you can count here are the ints and multiplication/division. For the rest of your life there will be things to learn about them and their algebra.

Tomorrow we'll learn how to put a ".25" behind it. Nothing serious. Just adds multiple different types of infinities with profound impact on exactness and computability, which you have yet to learn about. But it lets you write 1/4 without a fraction which means its simple!

[itishappy]

Totally agree. It bothered me when I was younger, though I had no idea how to explain why, but this should be deeply unsettling to everyone who encounters it:

    1/4 = 0.25      exact
    1/3 = 0.333...  infinitely repeating approximation

[itishappy]

    1/1  a
    1/2  ah
    1/3  aH!
    1/4  ahh
    1/5  ah
    1/6  ahH!
    1/7  aHHHHHH!
    1/8  ahhh
    1/9  aH!
    1/10 ah
    1/11 aHH!
    1/12 ahhH!
    1/13 aHHHHHH!
    1/14 ahHHHHHH!
    1/15 ahH!
    1/16 ahhhh
    1/17 aHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
    1/18 ahH!
    1/19 aHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
    1/20 ahh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeating_decimal#Table_of_val...

[grandempire]

Oh that number? It’s just a Laurent series. Just take the limit of the partial sums.

[criddell]

> For the rest of your life there will be things to learn about them and their algebra.

That’s just not true for the vast majority of people.

[itishappy]

It's available to learn whether or not they take advantage of it.

[criddell]

Sure. Just like open heart surgery, Medieval English, and penguin husbandry.

[layer8]

There is no floating point here.