Yeah I definitely agree with all of this. It’s just that the original post was phrasing it as “Someone has claimed that 1+2+3+...=-1/12, do you believe them or not?” and it struck me that it doesn’t mean anything to believe it or not unless you first understand what it would even mean for 1+2+3+… to equal −1/12. In order to understand this you first have to be aware that the notion of addition can be extended. If you aren’t aware of this (as you point out most people aren’t) the original post is even less useful; it’s asking a question that you can’t possibly answer.
Yeah I definitely agree with all of this. It’s just that the original post was phrasing it as “Someone has claimed that 1+2+3+...=-1/12, do you believe them or not?” and it struck me that it doesn’t mean anything to believe it or not unless you first understand what it would even mean for 1+2+3+… to equal −1/12. In order to understand this you first have to be aware that the notion of addition can be extended. If you aren’t aware of this (as you point out most people aren’t) the original post is even less useful; it’s asking a question that you can’t possibly answer.