The Art of Mathematics

Zeno's Paradox: Is Motion Possible?

July 22, 2026·15 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Josh Cole discussed Zeno's paradox that says motion is not possible since you must go half-way, and then half of the remaining distance, and so on, infinitely. Aristotle and others struggled with this, using ideas like "potential infinity" that hint at ideas that would appear in calculus hundreds of years later. The ancient Greeks were focused on the counting numbers, so they expect things to happen in succession. In particular, the Arrow Paradox asks at what point in time does an arrow move.

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