READ THE PASSAGE Think about the lesson Zeno wal Can a

Last updated: 4/27/2023

READ THE PASSAGE Think about the lesson Zeno wal Can a Tortoise Be Outrun A Greek philosopher named Zeno created many paradoxes that still puzzle readers today A paradox is a altuation in which two opposing ideas both appear to be true In his famous paradox called Achilles and the Tortoise Zeno suggested that in a race a runner can never catch up to a competitor who was given a head start In Zeno s story a tortoise challenges Achilles to a race Knowing that he is far faster than the tortoise Achilles not only accepts the challenge but agrees to give the tortoise a big head start The race begins and the tortoise starts running before Achilles Eventually Achilles catches up to the place where the tortoise was when Achilles began but by then the tortoise has run a little bit farther When Achilles reaches that new spot the tortoise has run a bit farther still Achilles must always reach the spot where the tortoise was and during that time the tortoise can always run a little bit farther Achilles can never overtake the tortoise so there is no way he can win Zeno did not really believe that the tortoise would always win of course This story like all of his paradoxes challenges people to find a logical explanation for what they think The paradox is based on the false assumption that you can continue to divide distance and time by half indefinitely Zeno turns the race into an infinite series of steps that can never end when Achilles reaches where the tortoise was the tortoise has always moved ahead slightly Even though the distances decrease there are an infinite number of distances Zeno s paradox proves that this assumption is wrong because space and time are not infinitely divisible and Achilles would in fact beat the tortoise SKILL PRACTICE Read each question Fill in the bubble next to the correct answer 1 In the Achilles and the Tortoise paradox Zeno helps people improve their physical abilities proves that forward motion is impossible shows underdogs that they can win challenges the way people think 3 A paradox is something that Aproves an assumption is correct Bis true in every situation is based on emotion rather than logic seems to contradict reality 4 Achilles and the Tortoise is based around assumption about space and time determination and speed Which best represents the theme of the passage You should always follow your instinct He who runs slowly but steadily will always win People should challenge assumptions as well as explanations D Philosophy and mathematics do not mix RATEGY PRACTICE How did visualizing help you to better understand the passage men and tortoises Draces and distance