I don't even know where to begin...Division by any number is essentially asking "How many times must you add x together to get y." (ex: 8/2. How many times must you add two together to get 8? 4)This is why 8/0, 2/0, 51/0, etc are all meaningless expressions. They are questions that have no answer. It's like asking "How many times must you add zero together to get eight?".Workarounds to these problems have been around for many years (its called calculus). But they work by rephrasing the question, not inventing a new answer for a question that makes no sense to begin with.Finally, Newton DID solve this problem (after a fashion), as he is one of two people credited with the invention of calculus. Clearly the BBC decided not to consult anyone with a working knowledge of advanced mathematics or math history when they wrote this article. It's shoddy work for a syndicate of the BBC's caliber.
the limit of x/0 is infinitythe limit of 0/0 can either be finite, infinite, or 0 depending on which limit you take (L'Hosptial's rule)but that's just limits, which doesn't exist physicallylet's look at the definition of division: 8/1 = 8, because if you add 1 eight times, you get 8.since it doesn't matter how many 0 you add together, "nullity" is basically any real number. eg infinity*0 = 1*0 = 0*0
Indeterminate. You cannot divide by zero. It's as simple as that. If you can divide by zero, you can prove pretty much anything about numbers - regardless of whether it is true.
Do people actually die because of divide by zero? You'd think in a pacemaker or flight landing there'd be some kind of exception handling :PIt's almost like telling me the world is going to blow up because the computer only had 2 digits for the year.
This is like the constant i which is the square root of negative one. but guess what i stands for? imaginary number. well if he gets away with this, then math is going to get a whole lot easier. all ive got to do is put a variable in where an expression should go. solve 3x=6? sure x=y.
Nullity does exist in mathIt is defined to be the dimension of the null space of a matrix. The term is rarely used however. I'm not energetic enough to look at his paper, but if this is new it should break the traditional mathematical mold and use a new name, for pedagogical purposes.
>"Imagine you're landing on an aeroplane and the automatic pilot's working," he suggests. "If it divides by zero and the computer stops working - you're in big trouble. If your heart pacemaker divides by zero, you're dead."the whole thing about computers stopping if you divide by 0 is semi-bogus. you have choices of how to handle it. you do have to choose a scheme though, you can't ignore it.<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_by_zero">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_by_zero</a> : The IEEE floating-point standard, supported by almost all modern processors, specifies that every floating point arithmetic operation, including division by zero, has a well-defined result. so on x86 and most other high end processors you can set the floating point exception mode to not give you an exception, but instead just give you the largest representable number following a divide by 0. this works pretty well in a lot of cases and lets the code just continue running. or you can religiously check against some epsilon before dividing. or you can enable and handle the exception generated by a divide by 0.there is no reason for computers to stop working because of a divide by 0.
This 'theroy' of assigning x/0 a name is not the same as calling √-1 an imaginary number. The difference is you can actually do MATH with i. Say √3+i = 2cis(30). This can also represented on an argand diagram. Please tell me, if you think "nullity" is a complex number, where is "nullity + 1" on an argand diagram, or even "nullity"?They are totally different concepts.
alfasubDec 7, 2006
I don't even know where to begin...Division by any number is essentially asking "How many times must you add x together to get y." (ex: 8/2. How many times must you add two together to get 8? 4)This is why 8/0, 2/0, 51/0, etc are all meaningless expressions. They are questions that have no answer. It's like asking "How many times must you add zero together to get eight?".Workarounds to these problems have been around for many years (its called calculus). But they work by rephrasing the question, not inventing a new answer for a question that makes no sense to begin with.Finally, Newton DID solve this problem (after a fashion), as he is one of two people credited with the invention of calculus. Clearly the BBC decided not to consult anyone with a working knowledge of advanced mathematics or math history when they wrote this article. It's shoddy work for a syndicate of the BBC's caliber.
jack000Dec 7, 2006
the limit of x/0 is infinitythe limit of 0/0 can either be finite, infinite, or 0 depending on which limit you take (L'Hosptial's rule)but that's just limits, which doesn't exist physicallylet's look at the definition of division: 8/1 = 8, because if you add 1 eight times, you get 8.since it doesn't matter how many 0 you add together, "nullity" is basically any real number. eg infinity*0 = 1*0 = 0*0
worthawholebeanDec 8, 2006
Indeterminate. You cannot divide by zero. It's as simple as that. If you can divide by zero, you can prove pretty much anything about numbers - regardless of whether it is true.
acetracerDec 8, 2006
Is this "Submit Bulls**t Math/Science Stories To Digg" Day?
sachmanbDec 9, 2006
Do people actually die because of divide by zero? You'd think in a pacemaker or flight landing there'd be some kind of exception handling :PIt's almost like telling me the world is going to blow up because the computer only had 2 digits for the year.
zenmasterjgDec 9, 2006
I'm sorry, but this nubjob is not allowed to steal Phi for his stupid nutjob theory.Hmm...0/0=Phi=1.618....Maybe he's on to something...Nope.
lacronicusDec 10, 2006
This is like the constant i which is the square root of negative one. but guess what i stands for? imaginary number. well if he gets away with this, then math is going to get a whole lot easier. all ive got to do is put a variable in where an expression should go. solve 3x=6? sure x=y.
sreyanDec 12, 2006
Nullity does exist in mathIt is defined to be the dimension of the null space of a matrix. The term is rarely used however. I'm not energetic enough to look at his paper, but if this is new it should break the traditional mathematical mold and use a new name, for pedagogical purposes.
dmh2000Dec 13, 2006
>"Imagine you're landing on an aeroplane and the automatic pilot's working," he suggests. "If it divides by zero and the computer stops working - you're in big trouble. If your heart pacemaker divides by zero, you're dead."the whole thing about computers stopping if you divide by 0 is semi-bogus. you have choices of how to handle it. you do have to choose a scheme though, you can't ignore it.<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_by_zero">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_by_zero</a> : The IEEE floating-point standard, supported by almost all modern processors, specifies that every floating point arithmetic operation, including division by zero, has a well-defined result. so on x86 and most other high end processors you can set the floating point exception mode to not give you an exception, but instead just give you the largest representable number following a divide by 0. this works pretty well in a lot of cases and lets the code just continue running. or you can religiously check against some epsilon before dividing. or you can enable and handle the exception generated by a divide by 0.there is no reason for computers to stop working because of a divide by 0.
mitch37Dec 30, 2008
This 'theroy' of assigning x/0 a name is not the same as calling √-1 an imaginary number. The difference is you can actually do MATH with i. Say √3+i = 2cis(30). This can also represented on an argand diagram. Please tell me, if you think "nullity" is a complex number, where is "nullity + 1" on an argand diagram, or even "nullity"?They are totally different concepts.
venoustoDec 31, 2008
<a class="user" href="http://phebus.journalintime.com/forum/2006-05-02-zero">http://phebus.journalintime.com/forum/2006-05-02-z ...</a>phi=1/0 <<<<<=>>>>> 0phi=1
ihydraDec 28, 2009
OH SHHI---......Why didn't the world explode?