The claim is that any natural number
can be completely and unambiguously identified in fourteen words or less. Here
a "word" means an ordinary English word, such as you might find in a
dictionary.
You know this can't be true. After
all, there are only finitely many words in the English language, so there are
only finitely many sentences that can be built using fourteen words or less.
So it can't possibly be true that
every natural number can be unambiguously described by such a sentence. After
all, there are infinitely many natural numbers, and only finitely many such
sentences!
And yet, here's a supposed
"proof" of that claim. Can you figure out what's wrong with it?
The flaw is so subtle that it's not
simply a matter of an obvious mathematical error in one of the steps. So we
won't present this proof in the same way as the other ones in this collection.
Rather than choosing a particular step and having the computer tell you if
you're right or wrong, just try your best to figure out where the fallacy lies.
The Fallacious Proof:
1.
Suppose there is some natural number
which cannot be unambiguously described in fourteen words or less.
2.
Then there must be a smallest such
number. Let's call it n.
3.
But now n is "the
smallest natural number that cannot be unambiguously described in fourteen
words or less".
4.
This is a complete and unambiguous
description of n in fourteen words, contradicting the fact that n
was supposed not to have such a description!
5.
Since the assumption (step 1) of the
existence of a natural number that cannot be unambiguously described in
fourteen words or less led to a contradiction, it must be an incorrect
assumption.
6.
Therefore, all natural numbers can
be unambiguously described in fourteen words or less!
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