Where am I going wrong, here? 
Posted on 12/08/2006 12:20:06 PM PST by LibWhacker
Schoolchildren from Caversham have become the first to learn a brand new theory that dividing by zero is possible using a new number - 'nullity'. But the suggestion has left many mathematicians cold.
Dr James Anderson, from the University of Reading's computer science department, says his new theorem solves an extremely important problem - the problem of nothing.
"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."
Computers simply cannot divide by zero. Try it on your calculator and you'll get an error message.
But Dr Anderson has come up with a theory that proposes a new number - 'nullity' - which sits outside the conventional number line (stretching from negative infinity, through zero, to positive infinity).
'Quite cool'
The theory of nullity is set to make all kinds of sums possible that, previously, scientists and computers couldn't work around.
"We've just solved a problem that hasn't been solved for twelve hundred years - and it's that easy," proclaims Dr Anderson having demonstrated his solution on a whiteboard at Highdown School, in Emmer Green.
"It was confusing at first, but I think I've got it. Just about," said one pupil.
"We're the first schoolkids to be able to do it - that's quite cool," added another.
Despite being a problem tackled by the famous mathematicians Newton and Pythagoras without success, it seems the Year 10 children at Highdown now know their nullity.
Chuck Norris can trisect any angle and square the circle.
Chuch Norris can accurately represent pi in an algebraic series containing only five terms.
Chuck Norris is a perpetual motion machine.
I think you are making a big deal out of nothing. Navigation was accomplished by slide rule for years. Radar and the beacon locate a plane to within a few feet. Navigation aids keep a airplane on course within a few feet. Gyro compass will keep an airplane on course. Flight computers are constantly updating and maintaining course and of course the pilot would not be worried because his flying skills are not concerned by a divide by zero error. I think you are making a big deal out of nothing.
ax = exp(xln(a))
I have mathcad here. It gives the same thing with 00=1.
No prize? ;)
*snicker*
And before that, humans got around just fine on horses or their feet for centuries. I prefer not to go backwards.
My very favorite.... It's zero, except when it's not.
That's about the funniest I've seen in a long time.
Where am I going wrong, here?
Hi, WT! If you have
a/b = c
It necessarily follows that
a = b*c
So in your example we'd have
30 = 0*30
which is clearly false.
Check out my attempt to explain it in post #70. It's the explanation you find in most algebra books. Cheers!
Exactly.
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