MeaningOfLife

14

See referred pages... (although you've probably guessed it by now) --Kazuhiko

Well, it's probably not the mean of anything, but there are an infinite number of infinitely big sets of numbers that is the mean of.  Which is pretty impressive really. --Kazuhiko

Can an infinite set have a mean?

The answer is yes - By example: An infinite set defined as 14+n,14-n for all n has the mean 14.  In general though - no.  An infinite set may have a mean which diverges no matter what sampling method is used to determine it. --Vitenka

But what definition of mean are you using? Surely the mean of an infinite set must be defined in terms of limits? I can see that certain infinite sequences could have means defined upon them, I can certainly see that continuous intervals of the real line could have means defined on them, but isn't a set unordered?

Well, by any reasonable definition that has a mean, so yes, it can have a mean.  But in general you can have a set which no sampling method would give a converging mean - so a set doesn't have to have a mean.  --Vitenka

How reasonable do you consider (SUM over i in I of x_i) / (SUM over i in I of 1)?

Complain to BBFC, then.  I've seen plenty of 15s... MJ

What's the BBFC?

The British Board of Films Certification, I believe -- Senji.

The author of these pages is assuming that the ratio of Life to the Universe and Everything is 1:1:1. I question the validity of this assumption. Indeed, one might well argue that both Life and the Universe were subsets of Everything.

I didn't infer that assumption.  I thought they were merely stating that Life, the Universe and Everything *meant* the same, although obviously different. --AlexChurchill

Hey, if there's no ready made units for the answer to 'Life', can I define one and name it after myself? -ColinLeung

Just remember - don't eat the SalmonMousse, and oh, I see you've got one of the MachineThatGoesPing...  --Jumlian

One of the females hasn't eaten the SalmonMousse and she's still dead