27 august 2009

for maths buffs

Any straight line, Borges pointed out, is an arc cut from a circle of infinite radius. So far so ordinary.

Draw a little arc in your head. To which side of the arc will be found the centre of the circle?

Of course, on the concave side. Good stuff.

But when we have a straight line standing in for an arc of a circle of infinite size, on which side of the line will the (infinitely distant) centre be?

Was Borges holding back the whole truth? Should we say that a straight line is an arc cut from *two* infinitely large and adjacent circles?

Me and Fermat.

comment