Finance & economics | A finite problem

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2JHDRXE HANGZHOU, CHINA - JULY 18, 2022 - An aerial view of the unfinished luxury housing development that has existed for more than a decade by the Qiantang
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The german mathematician David Hilbert once imagined a hotel with an infinite number of rooms. Even if all of the rooms were occupied, he pointed out, the hotel could accommodate a new arrival, simply by asking each guest to move into the room next door. One guest would move into a second guest’s room, freeing up a spot for the new arrival. The second guest would move into a third guest’s room, and so on. With an infinite number of rooms, the sequence would never end.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “A finite problem”

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