What is Infinity?
- It’s not big
- It’s not huge
- It’s not tremendously large
- It’s not highly humongous enormous
- It’s Endless!
Is infinity a number? Not quite. “Infinity is not a number. It’s the concept of something endless, of going on forever, rather than a number.” In 1655, the English mathematician John Wallis invented the symbol for infinity, which looks like an 8 that has been tripped over on its side.
Infinity (∞) is an abstract term that describes something that has no end. It is not a real number. There are no limits! Infinity can be used as a number on occasion, but it does not behave like a real number. When you see the infinity symbol (∞), think “endless” to help you understand.
For example ∞+1=∞
Which states that infinity plus one is still equal to infinity.
∞+∞=∞
If anything is already infinite, you can add 1 or some other number and it will remain infinite.
The most significant aspect of infinity is that.
∞ < x < ∞
Which is mathematical shorthand for “minus infinity is less than any real number, and infinity is greater than any real number”
What are Irrational Numbers?
An “irrational number” is created when mathematics produces an infinite series of numbers. The square roots (√) of prime numbers are infinite irrational numbers.
Irrational numbers, such as (Pi) and √2 (square root of two), are very useful in real life for calculating perfect shapes (for example, a perfect curve, such as the one contained in a circle, can only be calculated with an irrational “infinite” number). Infinity is a mathematical term that can be approximated using numbers or interpreted using symbols and functions.
We can’t write the square root of two, so we just use 2, we can’t write Pi’s irrational string of numbers, so we just use √2, we can’t write the irrational string of numbers that is Pi, so we just use π, we can’t write out an infinite set, but we can define {…, -1, 0, 1, 2, …} and put it to use.
Conclusion
We may think of infinity in terms of “really big numbers” in math, but infinity is a concept, not an actual number.