A Math Teacher gave this problem to his students..
Is this a trick Question or What ???
2007-01-11 01:56:53 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
There's two answers for that. It's either undefined or infinite.
2007-01-11 02:04:46 · answer #1 · answered by Zeo 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In the realm of real numbers, "division" simply means multiplying by the inverse of the number. Every nonzero number x has an inverse, call it x', such that x * x' = 1. So really, y divided by x is defined as y * x' for all x not equal to zero. For example, 6 divided by 2 is really 6 times ½ because 2'=½.
The thing about zero is that it has no inverse. There is no number 0' such that 0 * 0' = 1, because 0*anything = 0. Given this, one divided by zero, defined as 1 * 0', is undefined because 0' does not exist.
2007-01-11 10:48:43 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it is a trick question, like a Zen koan. It can stimulate thought. A mathematical system that allows division by zero leads to paradoxes, so it is not at all useful. There is a stale chestnut that proves 1=2, and one step involves dividing by zero. If any number equals any other indiscriminately, we have chaos, not mathematics.
2007-01-11 10:08:10 · answer #3 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This could be a "research" question, calling for the student to think precisely what division means. For example, a bright student might decide that 1/ 0 is that number which can be muliplied by 0 to get 1 and then decide , perhaps by trial and error, that such a number can not exist.
2007-01-11 10:09:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
One divided by zero is not a number. John Derbyshire in his book "Prime Obsession" writes "You may as well ask , 'What is truth divided by beauty?' I have no clue. I only know how to divide numbers." This would have been a good answer I believe.
2007-01-11 11:06:07 · answer #5 · answered by 1ofSelby's 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Division by zero is undefined.
The problem is that you could receive multiple answers or unpredictable results, and mathematicians like to have predictable results, so they disallowed this operation.
If you do graphing, you will see that if you graph y= 1 / x, as x gets smaller and smaller (closer to zero from the positive side), the y value gets larger and larger. We say that the limit of y, as x goes to zero, increases without bound.
2007-01-11 10:47:03 · answer #6 · answered by bequalming 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Division by zero is undefined.
We call 1/0 infinity.
2007-01-11 10:19:36 · answer #7 · answered by openpsychy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't divide by zero. SO, yes, it is a trick question.
2007-01-11 10:06:19 · answer #8 · answered by That Guy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's not defined, but it does indeed mean something. All numbers quantify things in nature. How you might arrive at getting the quotient of one and zero might say something about your mathematical model or natural process.
2007-01-11 10:03:06 · answer #9 · answered by Bugmän 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Undefined.
2007-01-11 10:00:17 · answer #10 · answered by Professor Maddie 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's undefined. Division by zero is always undefined.
2007-01-11 10:55:08 · answer #11 · answered by steiner1745 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋