Calculation of Finagle’s ConstantJerry MacSaesiaAugust 23, 20101 ProcedureWe incautiously apply operations we don’t understand to an equation wedon’t understand, then divide the result obtained from our calculation bythe known answer to obtain Finagle’s constant.Multiplying our experimental result by Finagle’s constant then gives thecorrect answer!2 Mathematical Snow-jobWe used the method of integration by parts to calculate the value of 1. Sincewe can multiply or divide any number by 1 without changing the result, thisshould be useful.Start with the following integral:Z1xdx (1)We then use integration by parts with u ≡1xand dv ≡ dx:Z1xdx =1xx −Z−1x2x dx (2)= 1 +Z1xdx0 = 13 ConclusionsAs shown in section 2, 1 = 0. We previously noted that division by 1 doesnot change the result, so since 1 = 0 we can divide by zero as well. Division1by zero gives an undefined answer, so when faced with an answer that doesnot seem to match what we expect, we simply divide by 1 (zero, in this case)and then re-define the result to be correct.4 AttributionsThe author would like to express his gratitude to Dr. Steve Waters1forintroducing the derivation of equation 2.1Department of Mathematics, Pacific Union