{"id":644,"date":"2020-11-21T03:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T03:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/?p=644"},"modified":"2021-05-20T07:10:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T07:10:38","slug":"644","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/2020\/11\/21\/644\/","title":{"rendered":"1 + 1 = ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is 1+1 ? Isn\u2019t that the simplest no-brainer Math? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not exactly… Actually, the answer to this is (as with most of life\u2019s questions of consequence) \u2013 \u2018it depends\u2019<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1+1 is 2, only in certain \u2018contexts’. There are many other ‘contexts’ (alternate worlds?), where 1+1 is not 2. It all depends on what the two 1\u2019s represent and what \u2018adding\u2019 really means. Let us examine this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most\noriginal treatise on this that I have come across, is in the famous Malayalam novel \u2018Balyakala Sakhi’ (‘childhood sweetheart’) by Basheer (Basheer\n– 1944<\/em>).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the story, when the teacher asks the protagonist first-grader the answer for \u20181+1\u2019, the boy thinks thus : \u201cwhen two rivers merge, what would you get\u201d? \u201cA \u2018slightly bigger<\/em>\u2019 river. So naturally, 1+1 is \u2019a slightly bigger<\/em> 1′. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author\nprobably meant it (and is also often quoted) as a classic example of how ‘dumb’ souls misunderstand\nscholarly concepts. But with due respect to the veteran writer, I would say the\nboy\u2019s thinking\nwas brilliant! That is precisely what 1+1 is, but in that particular \u2018context\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, consider two Vectors in Vector Algebra.  When you add them, you get another Vector, typically longer – yes, a ‘bigger’ Vector!  Does this not look like \u2019a slightly bigger 1<\/em>\u2019? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some other such \u2018contexts\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us talk about the world of Probability. The ‘Probability value’ of an event<\/em> is a number between 0 and 1 and it represents the chance<\/em> that the event occurs. A  value of ‘1’ means that the event is ‘certain<\/em>‘ to occur (and a value 0 means it is certain not<\/em> to<\/em> occur). ‘Adding’ the probability values of two events would give you the \u2018chance\u2019 that \u2018at least one of the two’ events occurs. So now, what does ‘1+1’ mean in this context? It would represent the chance that \u2018at least one of two certain<\/em> events occurs\u2019 – which is also obviously ‘certain’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus 1 + 1 = 1 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us make it a bit more earthly. Take 1 kilogram of pebbles in a cup and 1 kilogram of beach sand in another (picture). What would you get if you mix (add) them? Well, 2 kilograms.. So finally we have 2 for a 1+1 (I see you are relieved!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But wait –\nlet us make it 1 cup<\/em> of pebbles and 1 cup<\/em> of sand. Now if you add\nthem – what do we have? Well, definitely not<\/em> 2 cups of the mixture!\nDepending on the size of the pebbles, you can have as little as<\/em> just 1\ncup. So again, it depends!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally –  suppose there is one chicken sitting in a room. Now imagine one fox being \u2018added\u2019 to the room. What would be the most likely result of this \u20181+1\u2019?
(Pardon the Schrodinger-ish<\/em> grim scenario!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you\nthink of some other \u2018contexts\u2019 where there are other\ninteresting answers to 1 + 1 ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basheer, Vaikom\nMuhammad. Balyakalasakhi., DC Books, Kottayam, India, 1944, <\/em><\/em>https:\/\/dcbookstore.com\/books\/balyakalasakhi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is 1+1 ? Isn\u2019t that the simplest no-brainer Math? Not exactly… Actually, the answer to this is (as with most of life\u2019s questions of consequence) \u2013 \u2018it depends\u2019! 1+1 is 2, only in certain \u2018contexts’. There are many other ‘contexts’ (alternate worlds?), where 1+1 is not 2. It all depends on what the two…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/span>+<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[31,14,16,15,77],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1239,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions\/1239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}