If you want to use your asymptote logic on 0/0, take 2/2. Regardless of whether I multiply, subtract or divide to make the dividend and the divisor equally smaller, the answer is still 1. As it approaches infinitely small, the answer is still 1. When it becomes infinitely small (i.e. = 0), why should the answer not still be 1.
Well shoewrecky got the answer I was looking for... however he used math.com to get someone elses answer.. it is not even his own words... I'm debating wether or not to re-open this as a new contest with a simple guessing game or to just give him the coins... I never said you couldnt look it up.. I thought it was just implied, I kind of feel like he was cheating but at the same time I guess he wasn't... What do you guys think? rgggg example.. of a correct answer. 7*0=0 therefore 0/0 = 7 8*0=0 therefore 0/0 = 8 essentially 0/0 = all numbers (no not all real numbers but ALL NUMBERS even (-5.404980948*sqrt(-1)) the second answer was plus or minus infinity and plus or minus infinity times (sqrt(-1)) but I would have taken just infinity.
I never said it is all real numbers, I said it is ALL NUMBERS, anyways that is the answer I was looking for..
having taken my fair share of math i have to agree with hamman it wouldnt be all number it would be undefined because the reason nothing can be divided by zero is the answer does not exsist hence undefined at very best someone could reason through it being infinity but if you took a math class and they gave you the problem 0/0 and you answered anything other than undefined any professor that taught a math course would not except the answer
I'm definitely not nearly as advanced as you in math, but here's a direct quote from "Why can't we divide by zero" by The University of Utah.
The second question first, and the first question second: So, 5/0... Division can be checked via multiplication. For example, we know that 10/2 = 5 BECAUSE 5 * 2 = 10. So 5/0 = ?? Where ?? * 0 = 5. This would not work for any real value, but we could say INFINITY. Now, 0/0... We are looking for 0/0 = ?? so that ?? * 0 = 0. Any real value works in this situation, so we would say this question is INDETERMINATE. Those are my answers and reasoning.
I think shrek should win. He was the first person to come up with the right answer. It was never said that we could not use the net to get answers. When people put up contests for people to try and get the right answers, we always use the net to help out with the research. He was just honest enough to say were he got it from. Shrek, you sure sounded smart though.:eating:
Hey I thought smarter not harder How is it cheating when I used the resources that were available to me to get the answer? Heck I havent gone to a math class in YEARS and would never had a guess at that if it werent for the resources
ROFLMAO thanks Financeman, I only wish I could have known that off the top of my head. Man t hat would have been great!
He gave you the answer you were looking for, you never said no resources and you never said in your own words, although you might have thought those things were implied. If anything it is your fault OrangeGold Give Shrek the prize, and start a new contest and be more careful next time around.
What exactly do you think "minus infinity times (sqrt(-1))" represents? This doesn't actually have mathematical meaning. :headbang: You really can't divide by zero. You just can't pretend that it's possible and expect the result to mean anything. Division is defined as the multiplication by the inverse of a number. The inverse of a number is the number you would multiply it by to get 1, which is only defined for non-zero numbers for obvious reasons (0 doesn't have such a corresponding number). So for that reason, we cannot multiply by 0's inverse (ie, we can't divide by zero). That's just how math works. Let's just pretend that math doesn't exist.. What is 7 times 3? Hint: Multiplication doesn't exist...? bbqman was the first person to supply this contest with a reasonable answer; I would personally declare him as the contest winner. Interesting contest.. Had a fun time reading the respones. :goofer:
"minus infinity times (sqrt(-1))" = -∞i on the real number line you have a positive infinity and a negative infinity that was representing the negative infinity of the imaginary number line... anyways what I was saying was asymptotically as you approach division by zero the result approaches infinity n/m = x 1/1 = 1 1/0.1 = 10 1/0.01 = 100 1/0.000000000001 = 1000000000000 so as m approaches 0, x approaches infinity (∞) and n can be any number.. except zero and infinity if n is 0 then x is all numbers and that was represented by x*0 = 0 therefore x = 0/0 and x can be anything. Anyways yea its all just theoretics. There is no point in determining wethers its infinity or undefined because its all non-sence, it was just for fun.