Philosophy Now Forum

As best I can tell, the equation 0/0 has three different answers which means that 1=2=∞. So now what the fnck?

Jaded Sage wrote:As best I can tell, the equation 0/0 has three different answers which means that 1=2=∞. So now what the fnck?

0/0 = 1

It also equals 0 and infinity. I think it depends on what rules you choose to uphold. Kinda arbitraty.

It's not defined. That's the mathematical answer.

Jaded Sage wrote:It also equals 0 and infinity. I think it depends on what rules you choose to uphold. Kinda arbitraty.

Nope.
zero divided by zero has to be one.
It's the same as asking how many zeros does zero have in it.

What is -1 x -1 =

What about -1 / -1 =

Hobbes' Choice wrote:

Jaded Sage wrote:It also equals 0 and infinity. I think it depends on what rules you choose to uphold. Kinda arbitraty.

Nope.
zero divided by zero has to be one.
It's the same as asking how many zeros does zero have in it.

What is -1 x -1 =

What about -1 / -1 =

Cool.

Splitting nothing gives you nothing. You guys are getting hung up on symbolism, when the answer is right there in front of you.

Nah, see there are three rules in play:

X/X=1
0/X=O
X/0=∞

So how do we decide which rule to follow?

Dalek Prime wrote:Splitting nothing gives you nothing. You guys are getting hung up on symbolism, when the answer is right there in front of you.

Dividing is not splitting. You are thinking of subtraction.

Hobbes' Choice wrote:

Dalek Prime wrote:Splitting nothing gives you nothing. You guys are getting hung up on symbolism, when the answer is right there in front of you.

Dividing is not splitting. You are thinking of subtraction.

Let's 'divide' a tasty nothing pie between us then. Yummy? Not for either of us.

You can define 0/0 to be anything you like. But you can not define 0/0 in a manner consistent with the other laws of algebra.

Say you declare that 0/0 = 1.

We know that 0 = 0.

Multiplying both sides by 5, we have 0 * 5 = 0 * 5 = 0, or 5 * 0 = 0. Surely you agree with that.

Now dividing both sides by 0 we have

5 = 0/0 = 1.

So unless you are prepared to accept that 5 = 1, you have two choices:

1) Throw out the usual rules of algebra; or

2) Declare that 0/0 must forever be undefined.

wtf wrote: Multiplying both sides by 5, we have 0 * 5 = 0 * 5 = 0, or 5 * 0 = 0. Surely you agree with that.

Now dividing both sides by 0 we have

5 = 0/0 = 1.

So unless you are prepared to accept that 5 = 1, you have two choices:

1) Throw out the usual rules of algebra; or

2) Declare that 0/0 must forever be undefined.

5 x 0= 0

Your next step is meaningless. 5 x 0/5 =0/5 is not 5=0/0=1. it's still 0/0=1 like it or not. The fault is your imposition of the notation.

To answer the question, it depends on the context. Now it can be argued that 0/0 = 2 too because 0 x 2 = 0 and any other number you can think of. Since 0/0 = any number on the real number and there are an infinite number of them, then it's meaningless to talk about division by 0.

Now if you talk about approaching 0 as they do in calculus, that's a different matter which may be defined and is acceptable to mathematicians. Also note that for a quadratic equation, there may be two answers for the variable which mathematicians find acceptable.

So unless you have further qualifying information, the answer is division by 0 is meaningless.

PhilX

Philosophy Explorer wrote:To answer the question, it depends on the context. Now it can be argued that 0/0 = 2 too because 0 x 2 = 0 and any other number you can think of. Since 0/0 = any number on the real number and there are an infinite number of them, then it's meaningless to talk about division by 0.

Nope.

Hobbes' Choice wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:To answer the question, it depends on the context. Now it can be argued that 0/0 = 2 too because 0 x 2 = 0 and any other number you can think of. Since 0/0 = any number on the real number and there are an infinite number of them, then it's meaningless to talk about division by 0.

Nope.

Apparently you don't understand that 0 multiplied by any number is the same as 0/0. Why don't you check this out with a math teacher to verify?

PhilX