Misconceptions you hate!

[Kinkaido]

That graphics determine how good a game is.
That a something being called a theory in science means it's unproven or is under debate.
That creationism is a valid scientific alternative to evolution.
That video games cause violence.
And so on.

 

[blankedboy]

I suppose I'm not a big fan of the misconception that all Aussies are kangaroo-riding, desert-dwelling, VB drinking combinations of Paul Hogan and Mel Gibson (with women just being that with another X chromosome).

No, I've always been in NZ. I've been transgender as of a month or so ago, too.

...From my understanding, don't you have to be...well, born transgender?

Uhm, I'd imagine that nobody is born transgender unless they're some sort of messed-up superbaby.
You might be confusing transgender [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender] with intersex [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex].

Transgender being the mental condition wherein your mental "gender" and physical "sex" are incongruent. That would be why there are so many cases of children transitioning as young as eight.

Well... yeah, yeah it is. There's people that transition at pretty much all ages, though .-.

So you're saying you actually started transition a month ago?

Depends what you mean. I realised I was transgender a bit over a month ago, but I'm still largely in the closet.

 

[Pegghead]

Depends what you mean. I realised I was transgender a bit over a month ago, but I'm still largely in the closet.

I see. Well, make sure it's what you feel you must do, maybe get acquainted with the trans-community on this place (and around the web) and best of luck to you.

 

[EasySt17]

That .9999...forever is less than 1. When they are in fact equal.

Ooh, the misconception that those two are equal when they aren't is one I hate. They are so close that it doesn't matter if you round up, but mathematically they are not the same.

Mathematically they are the same, two different ways to write the same real number, there is no rounding. It only seems like 0.999... would be smaller than 1. There are a few proofs out there demonstrating they are the same number.

For example:
1/9 = 0.111?
9 x 1/9 = 9 x 0.111?
1 = 0.999?

Or this one:
y = 0.999?
10y = 9.999?
10y ? y = 9.999? - 0.999?
9y = 9
y = 1

If 0.999... did not go on forever but stop at some very large point, then it would be less than 1. The last proof of shifting the digits to the left by one obviously is only possible because the 9's go on forever. It seems weird to people, because it is unusual to deal with infinitely long strings of numbers. It's not the only example of being able to write 1 real number in multiple ways, just a very strange looking one.

It is about one and for all realistic reasons one...but not really one...also a ridiculous augment...on that note...

Finance... having an education in the subject I now know its like magic... a powerful subject that no one understands and therefore everyone ridicules... READ A FUCKING BOOK... if people were really that concerned about being taken advantage of by finance people they would spend some time (a week) learning about the subject and then... be able to make decisions for themselves... until then shut up...

 

[Quaxar]

I wanna correct myself... Great Britain does not include N Ireland. Confused something there, sorry.
It's actually called the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". That means Great Britain is the whole of England, Scotland and Wales as an island while Britain on the other hand is the island up to the Hadrian's Wall, that is to say excluding Scotland.

So Britain = England, Wales
Great Britain = England, Wales & Scotland
UK = England, Wales & Scotland + Northern Ireland

That is the correct way of saying it.

What about the 'British Isles'? I've always thought of that as entailing ROI as well.

Uh, if I'm not mistaking then British Isles does refer to both countries and also includes the Channel Islands, the dependencies and whatever else might float around there.
Maybe the non-souvereign islands are not specifically only a part of that but I am not sure of that. Probably doesn't matter anyway since they are part of the British Isles one way or the other.

 

[ManInRed]

Mathematically they are the same, two different ways to write the same real number, there is no rounding. It only seems like 0.999... would be smaller than 1. There are a few proofs out there demonstrating they are the same number.


For example:
1/9 = 0.111?
9 x 1/9 = 9 x 0.111?
1 = 0.999?

Or this one:
y = 0.999?
10y = 9.999?
10y ? y = 9.999? - 0.999?
9y = 9
y = 1
If 0.999... did not go on forever but stop at some very large point, then it would be less than 1. The last proof of shifting the digits to the left by one obviously is only possible because the 9's go on forever. It seems weird to people, because it is unusual to deal with infinitely long strings of numbers. It's not the only example of being able to write 1 real number in multiple ways, just a very strange looking one.

It is about one and for all realistic reasons one...but not really one...also a ridiculous augment...on that note...

My argument is base on mathematical proofs that demonstrate they are the SAME number. Unless you can form a proof that they aren't the same number, my argument is all I need. The nice thing about Math is nothing controversial, everything can be proven.

0.999... = 1 is as much fact as
1 + 1 = 2
or 1/4 = 0.25

Arguing that the value of two sides of these equations must be different, because what written is clearly two entirely different things, is the really ridiculous argument.

There is no rounding, they are exactly equal. Would anyone say 1+1 is almost equal to 2, but can't be exactly the same because it is made up of two different numbers? Or that writing 1/4 is more accurate than 0.25? Why would anyone think that's true, what behavior in math supports a belief that this could be true?

This is a very common misconceptions, and I understand why people would think 0.999... is less than 1, but if you look at the math it is clear the two numbers are equal.

 

[TheDooD]

Just because I like art, hate cutting my hair and don't have a job that for some reason my brother thinks I'm a bum and a ******(yes he said that to my mom many times)

at lease I'm not the dumbass with four kids and a crazy ass wife

 

[zehydra]

That .9999...forever is less than 1. When they are in fact equal.

Ooh, the misconception that those two are equal when they aren't is one I hate. They are so close that it doesn't matter if you round up, but mathematically they are not the same.

Mathematically they are the same, two different ways to write the same real number, there is no rounding. It only seems like 0.999... would be smaller than 1. There are a few proofs out there demonstrating they are the same number.

For example:
1/9 = 0.111?
9 x 1/9 = 9 x 0.111?
1 = 0.999?

Or this one:
y = 0.999?
10y = 9.999?
10y ? y = 9.999? - 0.999?
9y = 9
y = 1

If 0.999... did not go on forever but stop at some very large point, then it would be less than 1. The last proof of shifting the digits to the left by one obviously is only possible because the 9's go on forever. It seems weird to people, because it is unusual to deal with infinitely long strings of numbers. It's not the only example of being able to write 1 real number in multiple ways, just a very strange looking one.

It is about one and for all realistic reasons one...but not really one...also a ridiculous augment...on that note...

Finance... having an education in the subject I now know its like magic... a powerful subject that no one understands and therefore everyone ridicules... READ A FUCKING BOOK... if people were really that concerned about being taken advantage of by finance people they would spend some time (a week) learning about the subject and then... be able to make decisions for themselves... until then shut up...

No. It IS 1. There's absolutely no debate about it.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0.999... for several different proofs.

The ultimate difference is one can be expressed as a practical quantity, while the other... not really.

An endless number is more or less unusable as a quantity, unless you're doing some real fancy math.

Edit: Also, the philosopher side of me wants to say that any unexpressable number would not be sufficient as a real value/quantity. Dunno if I'd get slapped by mathematicians for saying that though lol.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Another misconception I hate: "Asians are smart"

Yes, I'm asian, and (I hate having to say this about myself) I'm probably more intelligent than quite a few of my peers, but why did this whole thing even start anyway? I look at my class. Mostly asian. (Here in Hawaii, there are much more Asians than Whites. The ratio is practically reversed here.) Are they all smartasses and super-intelligent? Not by far.

Albeit, I don't quite know if that IS the level of intelligence we are supposed to have right now since I've been told, according to a test at the beginning of my freshman year, that my reading/comprehension was at Post-High School levels, and a from a few years before that, starting then, math has been my favorite and best subject, and have gotten mostly A's in those classes since then.

I think this is because Japan's general education is much... better... than the US. The way math is taught is vastly different, and quite frankly it's taught in a much better way over there.

Americans are generally terrible at math. I'm the youngest person in my Elementary Math class at a community college by about two years, and I just got out of high school.

 

[Bloedhoest]

All Dutch are potheads.
Completely wrong.

 

[Ruin368]

Glass is not a slow-moving liquid. Its an amorphous solid.

 

[smearyllama]

That all americans have guns. The way one of my corp-mates in EVE Online said it you'd think every American was issued his or her own handgun at birth.

You mean you didn't get one?

OT: Misconceptions about the internet, pretty much.
My mom thinks that I'm looking at porn if I watch any video involving a single woman.
LoadingReadyRun? Porn.
Nostalgia Chick? Porn.
Anime? Animals having sex.

Yep.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

That all americans have guns. The way one of my corp-mates in EVE Online said it you'd think every American was issued his or her own handgun at birth.

You mean you didn't get one?

OT: Misconceptions about the internet, pretty much.
My mom thinks that I'm looking at porn if I watch any video involving a single woman.
LoadingReadyRun? Porn.
Nostalgia Chick? Porn.
Anime? Animals having sex.

Yep.

My mum's the same way, it's incredibly annoying. Except with me it's any video that includes a man. Apparently "man reviewing bad movies" is equal to "man masturbating in front of a camera" in her mind. I don't want to know what goes on in her head, I really don't.

 

[smearyllama]

That all americans have guns. The way one of my corp-mates in EVE Online said it you'd think every American was issued his or her own handgun at birth.

You mean you didn't get one?

OT: Misconceptions about the internet, pretty much.
My mom thinks that I'm looking at porn if I watch any video involving a single woman.
LoadingReadyRun? Porn.
Nostalgia Chick? Porn.
Anime? Animals having sex.

Yep.

My mum's the same way, it's incredibly annoying. Except with me it's any video that includes a man. Apparently "man reviewing bad movies" is equal to "man masturbating in front of a camera" in her mind. I don't want to know what goes on in her head, I really don't.

Yeah...
It started with me watching The Guild one afternoon.
She has this really accusatory sounding "What are you watching?" that just makes me want to flee the country.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

That all americans have guns. The way one of my corp-mates in EVE Online said it you'd think every American was issued his or her own handgun at birth.

You mean you didn't get one?

OT: Misconceptions about the internet, pretty much.
My mom thinks that I'm looking at porn if I watch any video involving a single woman.
LoadingReadyRun? Porn.
Nostalgia Chick? Porn.
Anime? Animals having sex.

Yep.

My mum's the same way, it's incredibly annoying. Except with me it's any video that includes a man. Apparently "man reviewing bad movies" is equal to "man masturbating in front of a camera" in her mind. I don't want to know what goes on in her head, I really don't.

Yeah...
It started with me watching The Guild one afternoon.
She has this really accusatory sounding "What are you watching?" that just makes me want to flee the country.

I was watching a Nostalgia Critic video a while back while lying in bed and she burst into the room with that same "what are you watching?" voice that all mums seem to be able to do perfectly.
It didn't help when one of the Critic's lines just after she said that was "god I would go gay for that voice."

 

[Mr. Bojangles]

My main views on this are expressed in my vlog abour prejudice and assumptions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1qmxjO0HdY

 

[Ice Car]

Another misconception I hate: "Asians are smart"

Yes, I'm asian, and (I hate having to say this about myself) I'm probably more intelligent than quite a few of my peers, but why did this whole thing even start anyway? I look at my class. Mostly asian. (Here in Hawaii, there are much more Asians than Whites. The ratio is practically reversed here.) Are they all smartasses and super-intelligent? Not by far.

Albeit, I don't quite know if that IS the level of intelligence we are supposed to have right now since I've been told, according to a test at the beginning of my freshman year, that my reading/comprehension was at Post-High School levels, and a from a few years before that, starting then, math has been my favorite and best subject, and have gotten mostly A's in those classes since then.

I think this is because Japan's general education is much... better... than the US. The way math is taught is vastly different, and quite frankly it's taught in a much better way over there.

Americans are generally terrible at math. I'm the youngest person in my Elementary Math class at a community college by about two years, and I just got out of high school.

I can sort of see that, but to be exact this is in Hawaii. And yes, that may be because it's part of the US, not Japan, though I still doubt that.

I just don't like people stereotyping us period. Just because I'm Asian, it doesn't mean I'm going to know the answer to all your problems. I could probably help out most with reading/math but I don't know much past my level of work in mathematics.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Mexico is a desert and we all have sombreros, ponchos and moustaches.

Hahahaha No. What we DO have is a war against drugs which is resulting in so many people dying.

And we "steal" your jobs? No. Everyone has an equal chance of getting a job. Deal with us being in your country.

 

[Ickorus]

"Alot"

Sorry, but it really irritates me when I see it, especially if it's being written by someone who speaks English as their first language and is in secondary school.

Problem there is a lot of schools teach Students that it is written like that.