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Old 03-31-2008, 07:26 AM
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AlphaQ
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Join Date: May 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rotawee View Post
edit- I felt like I needed to explain some things. First off you can't prove theres more stars than sand. end of story. And vice versa. It's a non argument.
That is completely false. A child can count the number of blocks in front of him, how is counting sand any different? There is a certain quantity of sand on the earth, it is theoretically possible to count every single grain. I doubt there will be people clamoring to empty the ocean and devote the whole of humanity to counting sand. But the fact remains that it is certainly possible to find the exact number.

Simpler than counting every single grain, we can use the wonderful branch of mathematics called probability and statistics coupled with geophysical observations to obtain a reasonable upper and lower bound on how much sand there is on earth.

Similarly we can do this for stars in the universe. As our physical observations and theories become more refined we will eventually have a good bead on about how many stars there are and thus the answer of whether there is more sand than stars will be quite obvious.
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