If I cut something into 3 equal pieces, there are 3 defined pieces. But, 1÷3= .333333~. Why is the math a nonstop repeating decimal when existence allows 3 pieces? Is the assumption that it’s physically impossible to cut something into 3 perfectly even pieces?

Question

If I cut something into 3 equal pieces, there are 3 defined pieces. But, 1÷3= .333333~. Why is the math a nonstop repeating decimal when existence allows 3 pieces? Is the assumption that it’s physically impossible to cut something into 3 perfectly even pieces?

In: Mathematics

Answer 1

The issue is that the number already exists. 1+1 doesn’t equal 2. 2 has always existed and we are trying to describe it in the way we know how on what that number is. Not to get too philosophical but math doesn’t exist, just the results we end up at – and they’ve always been there we just use what we call math to create understandable predictions. So that weird infinite number is an actual number somewhere and was there before we ever looked at it. We probably made it infinite because we can’t express it correctly