From: Smigrodzki, Rafal (SmigrodzkiR@msx.upmc.edu)
Date: Sun Jun 16 2002 - 12:33:32 MDT
scerir [mailto:scerir@libero.it] wrote:
Anyway a trick - but not an 'irrational' one - was pulled
off by J. von Neumann who identified zero with the empty
set and then identified one with the set which contains
the empty set ... et cetera. Using a "similar" trick J.
Conway defined a new family of numbers constructed out
of sequences of binary choices. This new way of generating
numbers encompasses the entire system of integers, real,
rational, irrational, 'surreal' numbers. Wow.
### Isn't it beautiful? David Pearce has a very entertaining webpage at
http://www.hedweb.com/nihilism/nihilfil.htm, explaining how everything comes
out of nothing.
Rafal
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