="Dan Asimov" <dasimov@earthlink.net> Mark, I never said that .99999... "is" only one thing.
Well, from Monday, January 28, 2013 10:04 AM I have
The only way to understand an infinite decimal representation N.abcde... ^^^^
I see I was probably WAY too literal-minded, being a bit obsessed with there being more than one way to *understand* infinite strings of decimal digits. Of course if, as I now think you doubtless intended, the full phrase was implicitly "an infinite decimal representation N.abcde... OF A REAL NUMBER" then indeed our train is set on a smooth track with a foregone destination.
What I emphasized is what almost all people are asking when they inquire about the meaning of ".99999... = 1".
Heh. I grant that's reasonable...at least in 99.999...% of the cases.