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Some one has decided to create a new tag for the whole (0.999) questions, and then tag 13 questions within a short time.

I've left that user a comment regarding this behavior, but I wanted to raise the question whether or not we need that tag at all? Is (0.999) a reasonable tag?

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    $\begingroup$ No. It is not. It is not even correctly typed: the questions to which it is applied generally concerns the repeating $0.\overline{99}$ and not the number $999 / 1000$. It probably should be merged into number-systems. But I haven't looked carefully at all 13 to see if there are any exceptions. $\endgroup$ Nov 21, 2013 at 13:43
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe the little-used decimal-expansion is a better merge target. $\endgroup$
    – user642796
    Nov 21, 2013 at 13:56
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    $\begingroup$ @Arthur: I think it might be wise just to nuke the tag and go on. It seems mostly about $0.\bar9=1$. And I mean, how many questions are we going to have on the topic which are not duplicate? Like five or six? All the rest could be reduced back to those and the plethora of answers they have received. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Nov 21, 2013 at 13:58
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    $\begingroup$ I think that we do not need this tag. The only use it has is to collect all these questions and, if not burn them, then at least close all but the first as duplicates. $\endgroup$ Nov 21, 2013 at 22:01
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    $\begingroup$ @Jyrki: Should we also shoot the authors of these questions as well, or perhaps just cut off their fingers would suffice? :-) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Nov 21, 2013 at 22:03
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila Cutting of $0.\bar{9}$ fingers will suffice. $\endgroup$
    – N. S.
    Nov 22, 2013 at 0:19
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    $\begingroup$ I think you mean $0.\overline{9}$ finger. $\endgroup$
    – JRN
    Nov 22, 2013 at 0:58
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    $\begingroup$ This question needs a $(0.999)$ tag too. $\endgroup$
    – Lord Soth
    Nov 22, 2013 at 1:49
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    $\begingroup$ In response to the concern raised by @WillieWong I suggest we change the tag to (1.000). $\endgroup$ Nov 22, 2013 at 7:15
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    $\begingroup$ @ArthurFischer: That sounds fine. One of us should go ahead and do the merge. $\endgroup$ Nov 22, 2013 at 8:54
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    $\begingroup$ @Willie: I yearn for the days where moderators could have just deleted a tag... $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Nov 22, 2013 at 11:06
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    $\begingroup$ @WillieWong, when I attempted to create the tag "0.999..." the dots got deleted and the tag "0.999" was created instead. The questions mostly concern the issue why the string "0.999..." evaluates to 1. In other words, the string itself is the issue and not the real number it evaluates to. Thus renaming it "1.000" is not too informative. Having such a tag will make future duplications on this subject easier to spot. $\endgroup$ Nov 25, 2013 at 15:17
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    $\begingroup$ @user72694: The point is that there are generally two or three non-isomorphic questions, and those were asked and are easy to find. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Nov 25, 2013 at 15:24
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    $\begingroup$ @user72694: see Jyrki's comment. I somehow doubt users would be so kind as to tag their questions 0.999 is it becomes clear that that tag just collects duplicates. Much easier to just write up a canonical answer on the subject and tag it as (faq), and close all trivial permutations of it as duplicate. $\endgroup$ Nov 25, 2013 at 16:20
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    $\begingroup$ @user72694: This is why I said that the majority of the questions are isomorphic to a small handful of questions which are easy to find. I do agree there are a few other interesting questions, but not enough to merit a whole dedicated tag. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Nov 25, 2013 at 16:51

3 Answers 3

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In view of the discussion and vote counts above, I have merged (0.999) into . The choice of target tag is due to

  1. Arthur's much upvoted comment above.
  2. 10 of the 13 questions using the tag already uses , so this is the minimally disruptive way of removing the tag.
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No way. This is a micro-interest tag. It is not worthy of a category on this forum. We all know that some base expansions are just not unique. We all get over this.

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  • $\begingroup$ An optimist, are you? $\endgroup$
    – dfeuer
    Dec 4, 2013 at 13:35
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    $\begingroup$ When I see a great pile of horse-dung, I keep digging until I find the pony. $\endgroup$ Jan 26, 2014 at 1:18
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The only advantage I see to having a tag like this is that I can add it to my 'ignored tags' list.

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