---
title: Paradox
date: '2007-05-14T22:23:37+08:00'
slug: paradox
---

Sometimes you want prove something or solve a problem, but at last you find out it's just a paradox. Just like the case when you solve the equation $x^2 + 1 = 0$. People without knowledge of complex numbers surely will regard it as impossible, and for people who know imaginary numbers, they still have no idea about how big x is, even they know $x = i$ or $-i$.

Another case is a confidence interval `[0, 1]` for a proportion statistic p. It doesn't violate any statistical rules, but it's of no use.

What I mean is: you'll still be confused even if you've got an answer. However, answers are much better than mysteries.

![Paradox](https://db.yihui.org/space/chessmen.jpg)
