Why is the diagonal in a unit square √2? Shouldn’t it add up to 2 since it has to go up 1 unit and right 1 unit? If I made infinitely small vectors zig-zaging like stairs towards the opposite vertex wouldn’t the distance covered add up to 2?
In: Mathematics
The thing about infinitely small components is if you consider the wrong distance, the result changes drastically. Even if you create small zigzag lines of length dx and dy, each time, you’re not travelling along the two lines, but along their diagonal. So counting the two lengths is incorrect.
If you don’t believe, just put a ruler, it’ll be about 1.41
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