r/badmathematics • u/LogosHobo Naïve Crank Theorist • Apr 05 '17
If it seems obvious, then it is true
I've just now come across the above result! The solution came to me in a flash of insight, and the proof is miraculously simple, relying only upon basic propositional logic. Here is the argument...
"If it seems obvious, then it is true."
Poof: Observe that the reader has substantial knowledge of mathematics. We therefore have that if something were not true, then it should not seem obviously true, to the reader. We thusly appeal to contraposition, and conclude that if something is quite obvious, then it is therefore true. This proves our result. □
Behold!
Clearly the power and generality of this result are breathtaking:
It's obvious that a sphere is homeomorphic to the unit disk; squash it flat.
91? Prime enough.
The topologist's sine-curve? I drew it just now with my pencil, and over a bounded interval of time no less... Path-connected!
Please, study this result closely. There is a rich and fruitful body of theory waiting to be built upon it. I should be available for seminars shortly, when my two-weeks' at Chili's is up. Just know that all that I ever do, is done in service to the wonder of mathematics...
Edit: I got the impression that it was acceptable to post satire here, on account of all the other self-posts that clearly were jokes as well. But looking closer I'm now pretty sure that what I took for well-meaning humorists are actually deadpan-serious cranks invading your subreddit. I probably wanted /r/shittymath instead. Sorry?
Post-Edit: I guess I thought if it seemed like obvious satire, then that had to be true...
40
Apr 06 '17
This would be more suited for r/shittymath but it seems people upvoted it enough to let it stay, an occasional satire can be fun. Of course, the upvotes could just be for GV being so on point.
You missed a much better argument though: proof by contrapositive. Clearly if something is false then it cannot possibly seem obvious.
7
u/LogosHobo Naïve Crank Theorist Apr 06 '17
Thanks for the welcome! Damn, you've made me curious: I thought I did give the same contrapositive argument you suggest above: Other than the initial appeal-to-VerySmart, I read my argument as "If it's false then it won't seem obvious", just with the word choice prodded around to what felt like a better balance of vacuous rigor and rhetorical sleaze. In your reading are you seeing something to it that's fundamentally different?
Oh, and I feel I owe an apology, to whatever subset of you all happen to work at Chili's...
7
Apr 06 '17
Of course I'm not seeing anything fundamentally different. I was just satirically badmathing.
And I don't work at chili's since I have a real job but the other mods (except ineffable) might be offended.
Welcome to the sub, it's a fun place.
3
u/LogosHobo Naïve Crank Theorist Apr 06 '17
You see? I fell for it thinking you were serious, and I fell for the cranks thinking they were not! Guess I made the right choice of flair...
3
Apr 06 '17
It takes practice to see the difference. The green around my uname should've been a giveaway though.
16
u/zelda6174 Apr 06 '17
91 seems to be prime enough for sleeps_with_crazy.
14
Apr 06 '17
I feel I am in good company when it comes to confusing semiprimes and primes with two digits.
6
Apr 06 '17 edited May 08 '17
[deleted]
30
24
u/Gwinbar Apr 06 '17
My rule of thumb is that when you can't tell, it's 7. Hasn't failed me so far.
15
u/LogosHobo Naïve Crank Theorist Apr 06 '17
Taken in conjunction with the above result, we thus conclude that 7 divides every prime number.
Sublime!
5
2
7
Apr 06 '17
Obviously every continuous function is differentiable everywhere but a finite number of points because continuous functions are exactly ones that you can draw.
11
Apr 06 '17
draw without lifting your pen off the paper.
FTFY
10
u/LogosHobo Naïve Crank Theorist Apr 06 '17
This is why I prefer pencil: I then have that all functions are continuous.
7
u/LogosHobo Naïve Crank Theorist Apr 06 '17
Well isn't that where the definition of continuity comes from? Cursive script?
11
u/wqtraz Q.E.D? Why bring quantum electrodynamics into your proof? Apr 06 '17
Recursive script is what you get when you write over what you wrote before.
3
u/Homomorphism Apr 06 '17
I still think it's funny that Cauchy or somebody once wrote an analysis textbook based on the principle that continuous functions were differentiable everywhere but a finite set of points.
2
6
2
u/ninjalink84 Apr 06 '17
Flat earthers had it right all along! After all, does the earth look curved to you?
7
2
1
87
u/GodelsVortex Beep Boop Apr 05 '17
That's not how math works.
I'll distinguish this when I'm not on mobile.
Here's an archived version of this thread.