Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Naufal the B. S. on 19/11/2009 14:29:57
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I need it for school task. Please give explanation for this question
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If you are dividing by zero then you have probably made a mistake earlier in the calculation.
[anything divided by zero is gives an infinitely large answer: x/0 = ∞ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity#Infinity_in_mathematics_and_logic) ]
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anything divided by zero is gives an infinitely large answer: x/0 = ∞ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity#Infinity_in_mathematics_and_logic)
It depends how you define things. Usually, dividing by zero isn't well-defined. If you define the expression in terms of limits, then it could be infinite.
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I need it for school task. Please give explanation for this question
You can't do it, it's not defined.
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I had a physics test. The question was about that:
2000/0 = ?
my answer is 0. And that is true
0/2000 is 0, 2000/0 is ∞ ...
Another way to understand the nature of division by zero is by considering division as a repeated subtraction. For example, to divide 13 by 5, 5 can be subtracted twice, which leaves a remainder of 3 – the divisor is subtracted until the remainder is less than the divisor. The result is often reported as 13 ÷ 5 = 2 remainder 3.
But, in the case of zero, repeated subtraction of zero will never yield a remainder less than zero.
Dividing by zero by repeated subtraction results in a series of subtractions that never ends*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_by_zero
* i.e. infinite.
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2000/0 doesn't exist.
You can make *the limit*:
lim 2000/x = +∞
x-->0+
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Lightarrow's correct. Infinity is a concept, not a number, so you can't get it as an answer by simply dividing one number by another.
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Ok... Thanks for all.
And the result, i am still smarter than my teacher.
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Just to play devil's advocate for a moment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_sphere
See the first equation.
(Of course, that "definition" requires that you are very careful about the meaning of infinity and that you're using complex numbers, and you still don't get it to behave like the rest of your numbers.)
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i agree with the above posters that it is a limiting process.
one question from me now, hopefully it doesn't derail this thread, but how did RD and lightarrow produce the infinity symbol in the post?
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i agree with the above posters that it is a limiting process.
one question from me now, hopefully it doesn't derail this thread, but how did RD and lightarrow produce the infinity symbol in the post?
Click the "preview" button under the reply window and you'll get a lot of symbols and formatting instruments.
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So what is 2 x 0 ?? [???] [:-\] [:I]
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So what is 2 x 0 ?? [???] [:-\] [:I]
Zero.
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it does not exist. You will get an error in your calculator. It equals infinity