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So .. this “cannot divide by zero” thing… I know it’s not possible to divide a number by zero, as the answer if infinity…

But if you divide zero by zero, does the answer become simply…. 1?

JTQ said:

But if you divide zero by zero, does the answer become simply…. 1?

No, because you can do it an infinite number of times.

i think that dividing by zero is termed “undefined” rather than infinity.

JudgeMental said:

i think that dividing by zero is termed “undefined” rather than infinity.

That’s what my calculator said.
“Result of function is undefined.”

party_pants said:

JTQ said:

But if you divide zero by zero, does the answer become simply…. 1?

No, because you can do it an infinite number of times.

Hmm.. But isn’t there one zero in zero?

JTQ said:

party_pants said:

JTQ said:

But if you divide zero by zero, does the answer become simply…. 1?

No, because you can do it an infinite number of times.

Hmm.. But isn’t there one zero in zero?

If you treat the result as the limit as the value tends to zero, then any non-zero number/0 will be infinity (+-), but 0/0 could be anything.

anything divided by zero is undefined – even zero divided by zero

The reasoning behind leaving division by zero undefined is as follows. Division is the inverse of multiplication. If a divided by b=c, then b times c=a. But if b=0 , then any multiple of b is also 0 , and so if a does not = 0 , no such c exists. On the other hand, if a and b are both zero, then every real number c satisfies b\times c=a . Either way, it is impossible to assign a particular real number to the quotient when the divisor is zero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undefined_(mathematics)

The Rev Dodgson said:

If you treat the result as the limit as the value tends to zero, then any non-zero number/0 will be infinity (+-), but 0/0 could be anything.

What he said. Dividing by zero is not defined under the usual laws of arithmetic for the real numbers, although it can often be convenient to “extend” those laws and say that a non-zero number/0 is ±infinity; note that neither positive nor negative infinity is a real number.

However, the case of 0/0 is even weirder. In calculus, it’s known as an indeterminate form , and calculus has techniques for assigning a sensible value to f(x) / g(x) when f(x) and g(x) both approach zero for a given x. For example, as x approaches 0, sin(x)/x approaches 1.

undefined, I remember

I wish I didn’t.

> But if you divide zero by zero, does the answer become simply…. 1?

See my monograph on infinite numbers. It’s easier to start with part 2, only go back to part 1 if you’re feeling brave or if you’re a mathematician.

Part 2
Part 1

These two parts are only summaries from my much longer and improved monograph – which is perhaps more readable:
Infinite Numbers

Today was sort of making sense.

• Turns away and imagines looking in here never happend *

mollwollfumble said:

These two parts are only summaries from my much longer and improved monograph – which is perhaps more readable:
Infinite Numbers

Everyone with even a passing interest in infinity should read page 11, the top of page 62, from the bottom of page 12 to the top of page 17, and the top of page 29 in this monograph.