I came back the next week (see last week’s euchre club results here) because Blaine was still feeling poorly. Evidently his doctor sent him to a specialist for an intestinal issue. Both Julio and Freddy had stories to tell – Julio let us all know that I was not the only victim last week with his marvelous play. “I must admit, I was also stuffed last week. I had a perfect red loner and Ralph my partner called clubs. But I was big enough to let it go.

“Yeah, maybe at the time, but here you are turning the screws a week later.”

“Just letting you know.”

 

Freddy had to recount the wonders of the article he read about infinity. “This is so cool – it’s even better and bigger than those loner numbers we looked at last week.

“It turns out there are multiple distinguishable SETS of infinite numbers!

“The easiest sets to identify are all those that are countable. That is, they can be described and, if given enough time and space, placed in order 1,2,3,4,5,… So whole numbers are a countably infinite set.

There are famous stories that help one understand other countable infinite sets (called Aleph Null sets by the man who first used set theory to describe them). The stories are called Hilbert Hotel stories, named for the other man who made them popular.

“Suppose there is a hotel with an infinite number of beds, numbered 1,2,3,4,5… with each bed occupied. One day a new customer shows up and asks for a bed. The owner says “No Problem,” gets on the intercom, and tells all the residents to shift – “Move from your current bed to the next higher numbered bed. One goes to two, two goes to three, etc.” Then the owner puts the new guy in bed #1.

“SO…. Aleph Null (countably infinite set) + 1 = Aleph Null (countably infinite set)

Ralph says, “That’s great! Can we start playing cards now, and can we not worry about getting an infinite number of points, and don’t be jumping two at a time when you only earn one, Freddy!”

Freddy acquiesces, “OK, but there are more stories; maybe I can tell them next time.”