Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel is a veridical paradox (a valid argument with a seemingly absurd conclusion, as opposed to a falsidical paradox, which is a seemingly valid demonstration of an actual contradiction) about infinite sets presented by German mathematician David Hilbert (1862–1943) in the 1920s, meant to illustrate certain counterintuitive properties of infinite sets.
Read more about Hilbert's Paradox Of The Grand Hotel: The Paradox, Analysis, The Grand Hotel Cigar Mystery, References in Fiction
Famous quotes containing the words grand hotel, paradox, grand and/or hotel:
“What do you do in the Grand Hotel? Eat, sleep, loaf around, flirt a little, dance a little. A hundred doors leading to one hall. No one knows anything about the person next to them. And when you leave, someone occupies your room, lies in your bed. That’s the end.”
—William A. Drake (1900–1965)
“The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“The Olympian gods cannot have grand passions because they cannot die.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“I’ve always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals.... I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless?”
—Anne Tyler (b. 1941)