Paul,
I'm trying to understand how you're thinking about this.

Do you think that mathematicians, engineers, and scientists
1) agree with you on what you're saying?
OR
2) agree with us - but you also think they're wrong as well?
OR
3) don't know and don't care what they think or why they think it?

I'd like to keep this with the simplest example that illustrates the principle.

I say that 2x * 2x = 4x^2
You say 2x * 2x = 4x

I'm not asking you to accept something you don't agree with. I'm just asking you to check your math. That equal sign means that the left and right sides result in the same value, regardless of the value selected for x. So just pick a few values of x and see which one, if either, works.

I can think of a simpler example:
Do you agree that 1x * 1x is the same as x * x?
And do you think that x * x = x^2 (by definition)?

Last edited by TheFallibleFiend; 10/01/11 04:38 AM.