1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ⋯
Okay kiddo, one day you're gonna learn something called "addition", and that's what we're gonna talk about today.
You know when you have one apple and your friend gives you another apple? That means you have two apples, right?
Well, addition is just a way of saying "putting things together" or "adding them up". Now, you know how to count, right?
So let's start with counting numbers, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on. When we add these numbers together, we start by taking the first number, which is 1, and adding it to the next number, which is 2. So, 1+2 is 3.
Then, we take the next number, which is 3, and add it to the next number after that, which is 4. So, 3+4 is 7.
We keep doing this, adding the next number to the sum of all the previous numbers, until we reach the end of the list of numbers.
So, for example, if we wanted to add up 1+2+3+4, we would start by adding 1+2, which is 3. Then we add 3+3, which is 6. Finally, we add 6+4, which is 10.
But what about when we have an endless list of numbers, like 1+2+3+4+…? Well, we can't add up an infinite amount of numbers, but we can try to get as close as we can.
What mathematicians have found is that if we keep adding numbers like this, they get bigger and bigger and keep going forever. But if we keep adding up more and more of these numbers, we can get closer and closer to a certain number.
That number is called infinity, which means that the number just keeps going on forever. So, when we add up 1+2+3+4+…, we say that the answer is infinity, because the numbers just keep going on and on without ever stopping.
But don't worry, you don't really need to know about infinity yet. Just remember that addition is a way of adding things up, and when we add up a bunch of counting numbers in a row, we get bigger and bigger numbers until we reach infinity!
You know when you have one apple and your friend gives you another apple? That means you have two apples, right?
Well, addition is just a way of saying "putting things together" or "adding them up". Now, you know how to count, right?
So let's start with counting numbers, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on. When we add these numbers together, we start by taking the first number, which is 1, and adding it to the next number, which is 2. So, 1+2 is 3.
Then, we take the next number, which is 3, and add it to the next number after that, which is 4. So, 3+4 is 7.
We keep doing this, adding the next number to the sum of all the previous numbers, until we reach the end of the list of numbers.
So, for example, if we wanted to add up 1+2+3+4, we would start by adding 1+2, which is 3. Then we add 3+3, which is 6. Finally, we add 6+4, which is 10.
But what about when we have an endless list of numbers, like 1+2+3+4+…? Well, we can't add up an infinite amount of numbers, but we can try to get as close as we can.
What mathematicians have found is that if we keep adding numbers like this, they get bigger and bigger and keep going forever. But if we keep adding up more and more of these numbers, we can get closer and closer to a certain number.
That number is called infinity, which means that the number just keeps going on forever. So, when we add up 1+2+3+4+…, we say that the answer is infinity, because the numbers just keep going on and on without ever stopping.
But don't worry, you don't really need to know about infinity yet. Just remember that addition is a way of adding things up, and when we add up a bunch of counting numbers in a row, we get bigger and bigger numbers until we reach infinity!