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### Practising Mathematics: Developing the mathematician as well as the mathematics

How can your students work like mathematicians?

An engaging selection of tasks contain activities from many areas of mathematics including: Number work, Ratio and Proportion, Algebra, Geometry, Probably and Statistics.

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The finish line is 2 metres away. The runner must first reach half the distance to the finish line (1m) but when there must cover half of the remaining distance (1/2 m). Having done that the runner must cover half of the new remainder (1/4m), then 1/8m, then 1/16m etc.

Will the runner ever reach the finish line?

The run consists of an infinite number of finite distances, which Zeno concluded must take an infinite time, which is to say that it is never completed!

However, we know in reality that the runner will reach the finish line. How can we show that an infinite process ends?

Let D be the distance covered.

D               = 1 + ½ + ¼ + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 …

½ D           = ½ + ¼ + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 …

D – ½ D     = 1 + (½ + ¼ + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 …) – (½ + ¼ + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 …)

D – ½ D     = 1

½ D           = 1

D               = 2

This is only one of Zeno's paradoxes.