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Burak
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There are many counter-intuitive results in mathematics, some of which are listed here. However, most of these theorems involve infinite objects and one can argue that the reason these results seem counter-intuitive is our intuition not working properly for infinite objects.

I am looking for examples of counter-intuitive theorems which involve only finite objects. Let me be clear about what I mean by "involving finite objects". The objects involved in the proposed examples should not contain an infinite amount of information. For example, a singleton consisting of a real number is a finite object, however, a real number simply encodes a sequence of natural numbers and hence contains an infinite amount of information. Thus the proposed examples should not mention any real numbers.

I would prefer to have statements which do not mention infinite sets at all. An example of such a counter-intuitive theorem would be the existence of non-transitive dice. On the other hand, allowing examples of the form $\forall n\ P(n)$ or $\exists n\ P(n)$ where $n$ ranges over some countable set and $P$ does not mention infinite sets would provide more flexibility to get nice answers.

What are some examples of such counter-intuitive theorems?

Edit: After 7 years with 200+ upvotes, it has been decided that the question is a duplicate of the question I myself linked at the very conception of this. With the exception of a few, most of the answers provided in the other question that this question is claimed to be a duplicate of are not acceptable answers to this question due to the finitary object and finite amount of information restrictions, which is the point of this question itself. Therefore the tag "This question already has answers here" is clearly false. Moreover, most of the answers provided here are not provided as an answer to the other question and actually can be given as answers to the other question. Therefore, if this question had been closed when it was asked, we wouldn't have these wonderful answers that actually answer a more specialized (and difficult) question. I am leaving it to the readers to decide whether this question is a duplicate of the other one and whether this question had already been answered in other posts.

There are many counter-intuitive results in mathematics, some of which are listed here. However, most of these theorems involve infinite objects and one can argue that the reason these results seem counter-intuitive is our intuition not working properly for infinite objects.

I am looking for examples of counter-intuitive theorems which involve only finite objects. Let me be clear about what I mean by "involving finite objects". The objects involved in the proposed examples should not contain an infinite amount of information. For example, a singleton consisting of a real number is a finite object, however, a real number simply encodes a sequence of natural numbers and hence contains an infinite amount of information. Thus the proposed examples should not mention any real numbers.

I would prefer to have statements which do not mention infinite sets at all. An example of such a counter-intuitive theorem would be the existence of non-transitive dice. On the other hand, allowing examples of the form $\forall n\ P(n)$ or $\exists n\ P(n)$ where $n$ ranges over some countable set and $P$ does not mention infinite sets would provide more flexibility to get nice answers.

What are some examples of such counter-intuitive theorems?

Edit: After 7 years with 200+ upvotes, it has been decided that the question is a duplicate of the question I myself linked at the very conception of this. With the exception of a few, most of the answers provided in the other question that this question is claimed to be a duplicate of are not acceptable answers to this question due to the finitary object and finite amount of information restrictions, which is the point of this question itself. Therefore the tag "This question already has answers here" is clearly false. Moreover, most of the answers provided here are not provided as an answer to the other question and actually can be given as answers to the other question. Therefore, if this question had been closed when it was asked, we wouldn't have these wonderful answers that actually answer a more specialized (and difficult) question. I am leaving it to the readers to decide whether this question is a duplicate of the other one and whether this question had already been answered in other posts.

There are many counter-intuitive results in mathematics, some of which are listed here. However, most of these theorems involve infinite objects and one can argue that the reason these results seem counter-intuitive is our intuition not working properly for infinite objects.

I am looking for examples of counter-intuitive theorems which involve only finite objects. Let me be clear about what I mean by "involving finite objects". The objects involved in the proposed examples should not contain an infinite amount of information. For example, a singleton consisting of a real number is a finite object, however, a real number simply encodes a sequence of natural numbers and hence contains an infinite amount of information. Thus the proposed examples should not mention any real numbers.

I would prefer to have statements which do not mention infinite sets at all. An example of such a counter-intuitive theorem would be the existence of non-transitive dice. On the other hand, allowing examples of the form $\forall n\ P(n)$ or $\exists n\ P(n)$ where $n$ ranges over some countable set and $P$ does not mention infinite sets would provide more flexibility to get nice answers.

What are some examples of such counter-intuitive theorems?

Post Reopened by Burak, José Carlos Santos, Stratos supports the strike, Ricky, D. Thomine
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Burak
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There are many counter-intuitive results in mathematics, some of which are listed here. However, most of these theorems involve infinite objects and one can argue that the reason these results seem counter-intuitive is our intuition not working properly for infinite objects.

I am looking for examples of counter-intuitive theorems which involve only finite objects. Let me be clear about what I mean by "involving finite objects". The objects involved in the proposed examples should not contain an infinite amount of information. For example, a singleton consisting of a real number is a finite object, however, a real number simply encodes a sequence of natural numbers and hence contains an infinite amount of information. Thus the proposed examples should not mention any real numbers.

I would prefer to have statements which do not mention infinite sets at all. An example of such a counter-intuitive theorem would be the existence of non-transitive dice. On the other hand, allowing examples of the form $\forall n\ P(n)$ or $\exists n\ P(n)$ where $n$ ranges over some countable set and $P$ does not mention infinite sets would provide more flexibility to get nice answers.

What are some examples of such counter-intuitive theorems?

Edit: After 7 years with 200+ upvotes, it has been decided that the question is a duplicate of the question I myself linked at the very conception of this. With the exception of a few, most of the answers provided in the other question that this question is claimed to be a duplicate of are not acceptable answers to this question due to the finitary object and finite amount of information restrictions, which is the point of this question itself. Therefore the tag "This question already has answers here" is clearly false. Moreover, most of the answers provided here are not provided as an answer to the other question and actually can be given as answers to the other question. Therefore, if this question had been closed when it was asked, we wouldn't have these wonderful answers that actually answer a more specialized (and difficult) question. I am leaving it to the readers to decide whether this question is a duplicate of the other one and whether this question had already been answered in other posts.

There are many counter-intuitive results in mathematics, some of which are listed here. However, most of these theorems involve infinite objects and one can argue that the reason these results seem counter-intuitive is our intuition not working properly for infinite objects.

I am looking for examples of counter-intuitive theorems which involve only finite objects. Let me be clear about what I mean by "involving finite objects". The objects involved in the proposed examples should not contain an infinite amount of information. For example, a singleton consisting of a real number is a finite object, however, a real number simply encodes a sequence of natural numbers and hence contains an infinite amount of information. Thus the proposed examples should not mention any real numbers.

I would prefer to have statements which do not mention infinite sets at all. An example of such a counter-intuitive theorem would be the existence of non-transitive dice. On the other hand, allowing examples of the form $\forall n\ P(n)$ or $\exists n\ P(n)$ where $n$ ranges over some countable set and $P$ does not mention infinite sets would provide more flexibility to get nice answers.

What are some examples of such counter-intuitive theorems?

There are many counter-intuitive results in mathematics, some of which are listed here. However, most of these theorems involve infinite objects and one can argue that the reason these results seem counter-intuitive is our intuition not working properly for infinite objects.

I am looking for examples of counter-intuitive theorems which involve only finite objects. Let me be clear about what I mean by "involving finite objects". The objects involved in the proposed examples should not contain an infinite amount of information. For example, a singleton consisting of a real number is a finite object, however, a real number simply encodes a sequence of natural numbers and hence contains an infinite amount of information. Thus the proposed examples should not mention any real numbers.

I would prefer to have statements which do not mention infinite sets at all. An example of such a counter-intuitive theorem would be the existence of non-transitive dice. On the other hand, allowing examples of the form $\forall n\ P(n)$ or $\exists n\ P(n)$ where $n$ ranges over some countable set and $P$ does not mention infinite sets would provide more flexibility to get nice answers.

What are some examples of such counter-intuitive theorems?

Edit: After 7 years with 200+ upvotes, it has been decided that the question is a duplicate of the question I myself linked at the very conception of this. With the exception of a few, most of the answers provided in the other question that this question is claimed to be a duplicate of are not acceptable answers to this question due to the finitary object and finite amount of information restrictions, which is the point of this question itself. Therefore the tag "This question already has answers here" is clearly false. Moreover, most of the answers provided here are not provided as an answer to the other question and actually can be given as answers to the other question. Therefore, if this question had been closed when it was asked, we wouldn't have these wonderful answers that actually answer a more specialized (and difficult) question. I am leaving it to the readers to decide whether this question is a duplicate of the other one and whether this question had already been answered in other posts.

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Post Closed as "Duplicate" by Xander Henderson
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