Here’s a good, interesting article which attempts to explain why .9 repeating is equal to 1.
I’m an amatuer fan of almost all kinds of mathematics; by amatuer, I mean I’m not going to help you with your homework and I don’t spend my spare time doing math for fun (though I have, on occasion). But there’s hardly any branch of mathematics that I don’t find interesting in some way, and I generally welcome the opportunity to study it when I have time/opportunity.
The .9999…. == 1 idea seemed very non-intuitive to me when my college algebra teacher mentioned it for the first time… like most people (probably) it seemed obvious that it must be slightly less than 1… even if only imperceptibly less.
If you’re like me, probably your first inclination is also to think that 1 must somehow be greater than .999…. Well, it turns out we’re wrong.
As a note, the comments are quite interesting, if occasionally infuriating; it’s amazing to me that so many people are confident that their understanding of mathematics is better than that of those who have dedicated decades of their lives to studying and explaining it…
