Tim Duncan explains the "longest 24 seconds" ever...

[Arcadian]

According to the theory of infinite divisibility, the shot clock should never expire.


MIAMI—Applying an analytical framework dating back to 360 BC, Spurs power forward Tim Duncan used the concept of infinite divisibility Thursday to argue that, in theory, no team could win the NBA championship. “Given that an initial field of nonzero size is halved by each round of playoffs, it follows that one may make an arbitrarily large number of such divisions, each time yielding another field of nonzero size,” said Duncan, diagramming his arguments in marker on a dry-erase board for his teammates. “Imagine, if you will, a basketball approaching a backboard from 8 feet, then 4 feet, then 2 feet, and so on. Now ask: When is the ball halfway there? This is my point: that the ball is always halfway there, and continues to be so. I know this is all very abstract, but you understand what I’m saying. The NBA playoffs behave asymptotically, approaching a zero limit but never reaching it.” Duncan then asserted that, assuming the dimension of time is similarly divisible, tonight’s Game 1 tip-off would never occur.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/tim-duncan-argues-theory-of-infinite-divisibility,32717/

[hater]

to me it was like a star wars movie (the original)

everything is going wrong. Skywalker getting beat to a pulp, han solo surrounded, eewoks getting raped, and somehow in the end everyone pulls through and beat the Republic

[BC3]

to me it was like a star wars movie (the original)

everything is going wrong. Skywalker getting beat to a pulp, han solo surrounded, eewoks getting raped, and somehow in the end everyone pulls through and beat the Republic nice!!

[thiste]

You mean the Empire.

[TampaDude]

to me it was like a star wars movie (the original)

everything is going wrong. Skywalker getting beat to a pulp, han solo surrounded, eewoks getting raped, and somehow in the end everyone pulls through and beat the Republic

Dude, it was the EMPIRE they beat, and the movie was Return of the Jedi, not the first Star Wars.

[Seventyniner]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/proof.png

In case you've never heard of the explanation of Zeno's paradox: an infinite series can still have a finite sum, so the arrow does reach the target, game 1 actually tips off, etc.

[TampaDude]

Zeno's Paradox is a neat mathematical idea, but time doesn't work that way.

[Southwest Texas Fan]

to me it was like a star wars movie (the original)

everything is going wrong. Skywalker getting beat to a pulp, han solo surrounded, eewoks getting raped, and somehow in the end everyone pulls through and beat the Republic

Republic?

[soxxx]

Just hearing the crowd go silent was epic. It reminds me when Holmes caught the TD in New England in the 2010 playoffs. Everyone was just
like stunned.

[Cry Havoc]

http://i.imgur.com/1HA3cd4.jpg

[m33p0]

theory and application don't agree on this point. imagine a line approaching but never reaching zero. on paper, it's correct. but you can't find one in real life except for free falling bodies in orbit.

[pgardn]

theory and application don't agree on this point. imagine a line approaching but never reaching zero. on paper, it's correct. but you can't find one in real life except for free falling bodies in orbit.

What about electrons in atoms? Or is this not considered real life?

[Kidd K]

:lol The Onion usually does some funny Duncan articles

[Arcadian]

theory and application don't agree on this point. imagine a line approaching but never reaching zero. on paper, it's correct. but you can't find one in real life except for free falling bodies in orbit.

On the contrary, a physicist would say that everything behaves that way. Nothing really "touches" anything else at the quantum level. So there is always some small distance between objects.

[pgardn]

On the contrary, a physicist would say that everything behaves that way. Nothing really "touches" anything else at the quantum level. So there is always some small distance between objects.

Don't you mess with my field...