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List of Paradoxes Information

This is a list of paradoxes, grouped thematically. The grouping is approximate, as paradoxes may fit into more than one category. Because of varying definitions of the term paradox, some of the following are not considered to be paradoxes by everyone. This list collects only those instances that have been termed paradox by at least one source and which have their own article.

Although considered paradoxes, some of these are based on fallacious reasoning, or incomplete/faulty analysis.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Contents

Logic

Self-reference

Ashtray with a No Smoking symbol.

These paradoxes have in common a contradiction arising from self-reference.

Vagueness

Mathematics

See also: Category:Mathematics paradoxes and Paradoxes of set theory

Statistics

Probability

The Monty Hall paradox: which door do you choose? See also: Category:Probability theory paradoxes

Infinity and infinitesimals

Geometry and topology

The Banach–Tarski paradox: A ball can be decomposed and reassembled into two balls the same size as the original.

Decision theory

Physics

For more details on this topic, see Physical paradox. Robert Boyle's self-flowing flask fills itself in this diagram, but perpetual motion machines cannot exist.

Astrophysics

Classical mechanics

Cosmology

Electromagnetism

Quantum mechanics

Relativity

Thermodynamics

Biology

Chemistry

Time

Philosophy

Mysticism

Economics

See also: Category:Economics paradoxes

Perception

For more details on this topic, see Perceptual paradox.

Politics

History

Notes

  1. ^ Eldridge-Smith, Peter; Eldridge-Smith, Veronique (13 January 2010). "The Pinocchio paradox". Analysis 70 (2): 212–215. doi:10.1093/analys/anp173. ISSN 1467-8284. http://analysis.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/70/2/212. Retrieved 23 July 2010. As of 2010[update], an image of Pinocchio with a speech bubble "My nose will grow now!" has become a minor Internet phenomenon (Google search, Google image search). It seems likely that this paradox has been independently conceived multiple times.
  2. ^ Euler, Leonhard (1768). "Remarques sur un beau rapport entre les séries des puissances tant directes que réciproques". Memoires de l'academie des sciences de Berlin 17: 83–106. http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~euler/docs/originals/E352.pdf. "... quand on dit que la somme de cette série 1 - 2 + 3 - 4 + 5 - 6 &c. est ¼, cela doit paroitre bien paradoxe" The quote from page 84 translates as "...when it is said that the sum of this series 1−2+3−4+5−6 etc. is ¼, that must appear paradoxical"
  3. ^ Newton, Roger G. (2002). Scattering Theory of Waves and Particles, second edition. Dover Publications. p. 68. ISBN 0486425355.
  4. ^ Carnap is quoted as saying in 1977 "... the situation with respect to Maxwell’s paradox", in Leff, Harvey S.; Rex, A. F., eds (2003). Maxwell's Demon 2: Entropy, Classical and Quantum Information, Computing. Institute of Physics. p. 19. ISBN 0-7503-0759-5. http://web.archive.org/web/20051109101141/http://vlatko.madetomeasure.biz/Papers/maxwell2.pdf. Retrieved 15 March 2010. On page 36, Leff and Rex also quote Goldstein and Goldstein as saying "Smoluchowski fully resolved the paradox of the demon in 1912" in Goldstein, Martin; Goldstein, Inge F. (1993). The Refrigerator and The Universe. Universities Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. p. 228. ISBN 9788173710858. OCLC 477206415. http://books.google.com/books?id=R3Eek_YZdRUC. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  5. ^ Khasnis, A.; Lokhandwala, Y. (Jan-Mar 2002). "Clinical signs in medicine: pulsus paradoxus". Journal of Postgraduate Medicine (Mumbai - 400 012, India: 49) 48 (1): 46. ISSN 0022-3859. PMID 12082330. http://www.jpgmonline.com/text.asp?2002/48/1/46/153#Pulsus%20paradoxus:%20what%20is%20the%20paradox?. Retrieved 21 March 2010. "The “paradox” refers to the fact that heart sounds may be heard over the precordium when the radial pulse is not felt."
  6. ^ See also Predestination paradoxes in popular culture
  7. ^ Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1832). Lectures on the Philosophy of History.

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