English

The paradox of the infinity

Number Theory 2021-06-03 v1

Abstract

\textit{Let EE be an infinite set on which a property (P)(\bf P) is defined. Suppose that E=iIEiE=\cup_{i\in I} E_i is a partition, where each EiE_i is infinite. Suppose also that, in each EiE_i, the number of elements satisfying (P)(\bf P) is finite. Then, clearly the density of the elements satisfying (P)(\bf P) is 0 in every EiE_i. Is it possible that the density of the subset of EE containing all the elements satisfying (P)(\bf P) will be at least equal to 1/2 1/2?} We were first confronted with this situation while reading the paper of Arno et al. [1]. In fact, it is in the paper [1] where it is shown that the density of certain algebraic numbers in Q\overline{\mathbb{Q}}, which we will call Arno et al. numbers in section 5, is equal to 1/ζ(3)1/\zeta(3). We have partitioned Q\overline{\mathbb{Q}} in a way that suggests these Arno et al. numbers are rare. This phenomenom struck us as contradictory, which lead us to consider the situation in greater detail. We will show in the sequel, through two examples, that the answer to the above question may be positive. At first glance, this problem resembles to the so called Simpson paradox in probability and statistics. In this paper, when we say the density, we mean the natural density.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2106.01311,
  title  = {The paradox of the infinity},
  author = {Mohamed Ayad and Omar Kihel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.01311},
  year   = {2021}
}

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7 pages