Let me start by saying I have a very basic background in math, so if I'm using the wrong terms, please feel free to point it out. I know straight away that this is wrong, I'm just curious to know where exactly.
You're probably acquainted with the famous result that $1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + \dots = \frac{1}{2}$. As a quick reminder, this is how that is proven:
- $S = 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + \dots$
- $1 - S = 1 - (1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + \dots)$
- $1 - S = 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + 1 - \dots$
- $1 - S = S$
- $S = \frac{1}{2}$
But what if we do something slightly different? Something like this, by repeatedly subtracting both sides by 1:
- $S = 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + \dots$
- $1 - S = 1 - (1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + \dots)$
- $1 - S = 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + 1 - \dots$
- $1 - 1 - S = 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + 1 - \dots$ (Simplifications on the right hand side will just skip to the original form from this point on.)
- $-S = 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + 1 - \dots$
- $1 + S = 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + 1 - \dots$
- $1 + S = S$
- $1 + S - S = S - S$
- $1 = 0$
I refuse to believe I managed to break math with this kind of thing, so I've been scratching my head trying to find what's wrong with that, but I'm finding it pretty difficult.