Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Is Math A Sport?

Posted by timothy on from the that's-an-album dept.

theodp writes "The close of the International Mathematical Olympiad prompts Slate to question if math is a sport, wondering if mathletes might someday compete in the Olympics alongside track stars and basketball players."

2 of 496 comments (clear)

  1. Lamest Slashdot article in a long time... by TitanBL · · Score: 4, Informative

    Math is interesting, math is fun, math is usefull, but math is not a sport.

    From WordNet (r) 2.0:
    sport
    n 1: an active diversion requiring physical exertion and
    competition [syn: athletics]

  2. Re:Sure! by andi75 · · Score: 4, Informative
    I have no mod points right now, so I'll throw in my +1 modifier...The correct explanation for the above result is (from AC:):

    This isn't using divisions by zero. This particular "proof" relies on the fact that rearranging the terms of a nonabsolutely convergent series does not necessarily give the same sum. In fact, such a series can be transformed into a series with any given sum simply by rearranging the terms.