| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name
 | Date | Lines | 
|---|
| 466.1 | just against the law is all... | ENGINE::ROTH |  | Sun Apr 06 1986 22:35 | 7 | 
|  |     Algebra is supposed to be a noise-free information processing system;
    however, dividing by zero sends any nonzero quantity to infinity, (at
    least over R and C) and this causes a loss of information.  This is why
    one should not 'be allowed' to divide by zero during algebraic manipulation.
    At any rate, its just not defined, whatever the field...
    - Jim
 | 
| 466.2 |  | CLT::GILBERT | Juggler of Noterdom | Mon Apr 07 1986 01:40 | 4 | 
|  | %BAS-F-DIVBY_ZER, Division by 0
-BAS-I-USEPC_PSL, at user PC=001967E8, PSL=03C000A2
-SYSTEM-F-FLTDIV_F, arithmetic fault, floating divide by zero at PC=00197E8, PSL=03C000A2
-BAS-I-FROLINMOD, from line 10 in module NONAME
 | 
| 466.3 | mostly... | METOO::YARBROUGH |  | Mon Apr 07 1986 08:33 | 2 | 
|  |     Disdain.
    
 | 
| 466.4 | It depends... | ERIS::CALLAS | Jon Callas | Mon Apr 07 1986 23:03 | 1 | 
|  |     on what you were looking for...
 | 
| 466.5 | And... | KBOV05::J_WOLFF | Julian Wolff | Tue Apr 08 1986 00:01 | 14 | 
|  |     Here what you get...
    
    		x = x
    	      x^2 = x^2
        x^2 - x^2 = x^2 - x^2
      x ( x - x ) = (x + x) (x - x)
    	        x = 2 x
    	        1 = 2
    
    So...
    
    	Julian.
    
    
 | 
| 466.6 | Here is what you get from Calreal | KEEPER::KOSTAS | Kostas G. Gavrielidis <o.o> | Tue Apr 08 1986 09:49 | 15 | 
|  | 
    re. .2
    
    here is one from calreal
    
    $calreal
    
    CALREAL> 1/0;
                ^
    %CALREAL-E-003:  ZERO DENOMINATOR IN DIVISION OPERATION 
    
    CALREAL> #
    $
    
    
 | 
| 466.7 | Perfectly simple | NANUCK::PETERSEN | Some assembly required. | Tue Apr 08 1986 16:26 | 29 | 
|  |     Actually, the proposition that one divided by zero equals
    infinity is easy to prove, using rotational mathematics:
    
    (Please accept "oo" as the traditional symbol for infinity.)
    We start with the well-known fact:
    
    			 1
    		       ----   =   0
    		        oo
    Now, we rotate ninety degrees to get:
    
    			-18   =   0
    
    Adding eight to both sides, we obtain:
    
    			-10   =   8
    
    And, reversing the previous rotation (to normalize the equation)
    we get the desired:
    
    		         1
    		       ----   =  oo
    			 0
    (Someone check my arithmetic, please.)
    
    					Theo
 | 
| 466.8 | The wrong answer ofter given for  1/O = oo. | THEBUS::KOSTAS | Kostas G. Gavrielidis <o.o> | Mon Apr 14 1986 13:08 | 25 | 
|  |     re. .7
    
    Well you given the wrong answer I was looking for.
    
    This is the kind of answer we find in some math books and is printed
    as:
    
           1
         -----  =  oo
           O
    
    but a careful reading we find that this is an abbreviation for
    something quite different from what it appears to be inticated.
    "In-finite" means "no limit", and the "O" in the dinominator is
    not a zero, like   2 - 2 = 0, but stands for a variable approaching
    zero as its limit. The smaller it gets, the larger (without limit)
    is its reciprocal. That is the meaning of 1/O = oo.
    
    Note:  The characters "oo" are used to inticate the symbol for
    infinity.
    
    Enjoy,
    
    Kostas G.
    
 | 
| 466.9 | The detour sign approach. | THEBUS::KOSTAS | Kostas G. Gavrielidis <o.o> | Mon Apr 14 1986 13:14 | 14 | 
|  |     Hello,
    
         On the original problem once again. The appearance of a zero
    as a divisor or denominator should be regarded as a detour sign.
    DO NOT FOLLOW THE USUAL ROUTE IN SUCH A CASE. This then requires
    the redefinition of division. I will therefore request some ideas
    as to how we define division that will take care the problem of
    a division by zero.
    
    I have a three step definition but I am interested to see other
    ideas.
    
    Kostas G.
    
 | 
| 466.10 | Cross-reference | LATOUR::JMARTIN | Joseph A. Martin | Thu May 01 1986 10:52 | 3 | 
|  | This discussion seems to have been taken up in RAINBW::MUSIC #144 under
the guise of piano tuning.
--Joe  :-)
 |