[NBLUG/talk] The Romans' ban on zero

[Eric Eisenhart]

> So 1/0 = infinity.

BTW, this doesn't hold up, either...

By the same logic:
1/0 = infinity
2/0 = infinity
1/0 = infinity = 2/0
1/0 = 2/0
1 = 2

The last of which is, obviously, false.

Hence, n/0 = undefined.  It's not 0.  It's not n.  It's not 1.  It's not
infinity.

In most computerized mathematical systems, that's "NaN" which is a lot like
NULL in a database in that NaN != NaN.

(in other words, 1/0 = NaN, 2/0 = NaN, NaN != NaN, so you can't get to 1=2)
-- 
Eric Eisenhart
NBLUG Co-Founder & Vice-President Pro Tempore
The North Bay Linux Users Group
http://nblug.org/
eric at nblug.org, IRC: Freiheit at freenode, AIM: falschfreiheit, ICQ: 48217244
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