(a+b^n)/n=x ?

[Zylstra]

Lately, I've seen a few people posting this everywhere and claiming 'proof of god'

anyone know what the heck this equation is?

 

[blinddesign]

There is a story about Diderot, the Encyclopaedist and materialist, a foremost figure in the intellectual awakening which immediately preceded the French Revolution. Diderot was staying at the Russian court, where his elegant flippancy was entertaining the nobility. Fearing that the faith of her retainers was at stake, the Tsaritsa commissioned Euler, the most distinguished mathematician of the time, to debate with Diderot in public. Diderot was informed that a mathematician has established a proof of the existence of God. He was summoned to court without being told the name of his opponent. Before the assembled court, Euler accosted him with the following pronouncement, which was uttered with due gravity: "(a + bn)/n = x, donc Dieu existe, repondez." Algebra was Arabic to Diderot. "¦ He left the court abruptly amid the titters of the assembly, confined himself to his chambers, demanded a safe conduct, and promptly returned to France.
It's a non-sequitur, and the moral is: don't listen to theists, all they can do is logical fallacies. Even clever ones.

 

[Marcus]

The story is almost certainly apocryphal, or has become embellished over time. A brief analysis of its various retellings is given in a 1954 paper by Gillings in the American Mathematical Monthly.

The equation itself, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with theology.