Does everything which has a beginning have an end?
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Original post by miser
Does anything have no beginning but a precise point of termination? 
Pi is only a ratio. It's merely a quirk of attempting to express it numerically in base-10 that prevents us from writing it precisely.
Pi is only a ratio. It's merely a quirk of attempting to express it numerically in base-10 that prevents us from writing it precisely.
Aren't you banned lol
Original post by aranexus
Aren't you banned lol
Disappointingly for this thread topic, seemingly it had both a beginning and an end.
Original post by miser
Does anything have no beginning but a precise point of termination?
Pi is only a ratio. It's merely a quirk of attempting to express it numerically in base-10 that prevents us from writing it precisely.
Pi is only a ratio. It's merely a quirk of attempting to express it numerically in base-10 that prevents us from writing it precisely.
pi exactly equals 10 base pi.
It doesn't really seem to have helped much
Original post by Joinedup
pi exactly equals 10 base pi.
It doesn't really seem to have helped much
It doesn't really seem to have helped much
It's expression time in base pi.
A wild irrational number appears!
Spoiler
Let's ask Morpheus.
Not really. The expansion of the Universe had a beginning, but as far as we know, it can expand indefinitely; apart from the 'Big crunch' possibility, all the other scenarios allow for the Universe to expand forever.
Original post by shyamshah
Hey, I was just wondering this question. For example, humans have a beginning to life and an end which is death. Pretty much everything in the world has a beginning and an end, but is this true for every single thing? Is there anything which doesn't follow this pattern?
Energy is eternal, it can neither be created nor destroyed. Only transformed.
Original post by tashazzz
Everything but the DFS sale
ROFL
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Original post by Farm_Ecology
Take a number like pi. A definite starting point. No end.
Same with any recurring number (3.3`)
Same with any recurring number (3.3`)
I'm not sure that's true, we write them like that sure, but really all it means is we can never know quite where to put the dot on the number line. The written digits are just our representation system.
Original post by miser
Does anything have no beginning but a precise point of termination?
Pi is only a ratio. It's merely a quirk of attempting to express it numerically in base-10 that prevents us from writing it precisely.
Pi is only a ratio. It's merely a quirk of attempting to express it numerically in base-10 that prevents us from writing it precisely.
It makes no difference what base you try to write pi in , still doesn't have a known end
Original post by Farm_Ecology
I would argue no.
For an example: Numbers.
For an example: Numbers.
Numbers don't really have a beginning either though
Original post by aranexus
No, as far as i'm aware: π (pi) has a begining, but has no end 
I would have to disagree.
Although it's easy to say that pi begins with a '3' and doesn't end, I think this logic is flawed. I think that '3' serves as a pseudo-beginning and is just an essentiality following the way our number system works. The number of greatest magnitude taking the position to the far left and those of lower value take positions further to the right: tens | units | tenths | hundredths | etc...
There is no absolutely concrete objective reasoning that can support that '3' is at the beginning of pi, just, as it happens, '3' appears at the start of our representation of pi in decimal form.
Original post by shyamshah
Hey, I was just wondering this question. For example, humans have a beginning to life and an end which is death. Pretty much everything in the world has a beginning and an end, but is this true for every single thing? Is there anything which doesn't follow this pattern?
The Matrix, really? Try some real philosophy.
Original post by Enigmatic Spirit
The Matrix, really? Try some real philosophy.
I never said the matrix.
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Original post by moorbre
It makes no difference what base you try to write pi in , still doesn't have a known end
This was already discussed. In base pi, it is '10'.
Original post by Dima-Blackburn
Not really. The expansion of the Universe had a beginning, but as far as we know, it can expand indefinitely; apart from the 'Big crunch' possibility, all the other scenarios allow for the Universe to expand forever.
Knowingly or not, you have come upon the problem. If we take a set of things which have a beginning we can then split this into two further subsets. Those that have already been shown to have an ending, and those which have not yet ended if they are to end at all (i.e. those that have only begun).
In order to conclusively disprove the statement 'everything that has a beginning has an end' we would have to wait forever to observe whether the all of the latter of the two subsets contains things, or a thing, which has a beginning but no end. But this is impossible, and by extension this is why from a practical standpoint nothing can be concluded unless we were certain that the entire set of things with beginnings fits exactly into its own subset of things with endings. This also inevitably runs into complications because some things, such as the life of a star, last a very long time and we can never be certain that we are able to observe or infer the existence of all things with beginnings. If we were ever in a position to prove the statement true, it is likely that the statement would have become an axiom anyway.
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