1200-year-old problem 'easy' [dividing by zero]

BBC ^ | 12/8/06

[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.

[LibWhacker]

Appalling that this guy is even allowed in a classroom.

[Shady]

Eleventeen times twentitwo equals a frillion. Just ask the Pointy Haired Boss.

[TeenagedConservative]

Genius. I never could thought of something like that.

[billbears]

Don't see it as anymore ridiculous than i. Square root of negative -1. What sort of math is that? And considering Newton and Pythagoras apparently tried to address it, it must be a concern to someone.

[1rudeboy]

To demonstrate his theorem, Dr. Anderson pointed to Paris Hilton.

[rhombus]

Eleventeen times twentitwo equals a frillion.

This is the new Government basis for social security calculations. Get used to it. :-)

[TX Bluebonnet]

To demonstrate his theorem, Dr. Anderson pointed to Paris Hilton.

LOL

[narby]

Appalling that this guy is even allowed in a classroom.

It makes perfect sense in the computer universe. I handle such things with special cases that jam in a number that I can deal with. I wish the hardware would just do it for me because crashing the system merely because the math is impossible is just not an option when you're navigating with a GPS.

[frithguild]

Just did 0/0= on my Windows Accessories Calculator. The Answer = "Result of function is undefined."

Maybe Anderon uses Linux???

[Sloth]

i is actually useful for describing real-world phenomena, such as electrical voltage. This Anderson guy, on the other hand, just sounds like an assclown.

[353FMG]

""It was confusing at first, but I think I've got it. Just about," said one pupil."

Wait till the kid decides to study science - he'll have to start from scratch again. Let no child be left behind, hee-hee-hee.

[Ken522]

Wouldn't it be easier to convert the numbers into logarithms and subtract them?

[tacticalogic]

At least i can be rationalized by squaring. I believe "that short of math" is calculus. I don't see any possibility of rationalizing nullity.

[Glenn]

2 + 2 = 5 for certain values of 2.

[vox humana]

Nullity is the medical term for brain damage caused by the ingestion of too many recreational drugs.

[LibWhacker]

What sort of math is that?

An extremely useful one! An algebra of complex numbers is well-understood and well-defined. But when you start trying to divide by zero, you run into all kinds of unacceptable results.

[bagadonutz]

Don't see it as anymore ridiculous than i. Square root of negative -1. What sort of math is that? And considering Newton and Pythagoras apparently tried to address it, it must be a concern to someone.

Imaginary or "i" numbers are useful in doing vector analysis. One application I recall from engineering school deals with complex electrical circuits.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

The world should be very grateful to i. It has solved problems in signal processing -- radios, tvs, audio, communication, control systems , airplanes, rockets, missiles, radars....just about anything else you can imagine.

[IYAAYAS]

It's always been possible to divide by zero. infinity/zero=1, always has. Dirac delta functions are used all the time in higher math. i=sqrt(-1) is used every day in Electrical engineering, AND it's real.

[JamesP81]

"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."

This might sound overblown, but speaking as a code cruncher, it isn't. Not even slightly.

However, this guy is just trying to "officially" legitimize in the math world something that computer scientists already do: assign a value to an equation that divides by zero somewhere. In the programming world, we already do this by having our programs return null or not a number for a divide by zero, or we deal with it using exception handling since a divide by zero will pitch an OS exception error. This is actually the best way because normally, if you divide by zero in an equation that probably indicates a special case for that formula and an exception handler can deal with that special case while simultaneously not crashing the system.

[bert]

2=2=5 for LARGE values of 2

[bert]

once more with fingers......

2+2=5 for LARGE values of 2

[bert]

once more with fingers......

2+2=5 for LARGE values of 2

[quikdrw]

Only Chuck Norris can divide by zero. Plus, Chuck Norris has counted to infinity.....twice.

[r9etb]

Wouldn't it be easier to convert the numbers into logarithms and subtract them?

Lordy, I hope you simply forgot the /sarcasm tag....

[narby]

In my code, I have to pre-test any division to ensure that it's not attempting a divide-by-zero. If it is, I often substitute a really-tiny-number, and procede with the division. The result is a really-big-number, but that's OK, the rest of the algoritm still works.

Computers often can't quite represent an exact value anyway, so returning a result of divide by zero as a really-big-number is just fine.

[Slings and Arrows]

"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."

Unless your code has...oh, I don't know...EXCEPTION HANDLING?!

What a waste of education.

[Ingtar]

Actually, doesn't dividing by zero yield an infinite value?

[tacticalogic]

I'll buy all of that up to the point of saying it's real. IIRC, it is explicitly designated as imaginary.

[2banana]

To get a woman it takes Time and Money:

Women = Time x Money

And Time is Money and Money is Time

So: Women = Money x Money = Money^2

And Money is the root of all Evil

Money = SQRT(Evil)

So: Women = (SQRT(Evil))2

Or

Women = Evil (mathematically proven)

[MosesKnows]

a brand new theory that dividing by zero is possible

However, Grabel's law still prevails; 2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2.

[1rudeboy]

I learned in school that dividing by zero gives a result of "undefined."

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Idiots. They haven't solved the problem. They have just said that invalid results in math are acceptable.

Division means "how many of this number are in this other number". So dividing 5 into 10 means "how many 5's are in 10?"
2.

Saying "how many zeros are in this other number" is a meaningless phrase.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

I think this guy is just a LIBERAL(well he would be liberal just for the fact that he is in a classromm). Anytime someone tries to justify wacko-ism or any sort of perversion..you know what that means.

[wastedyears]

Makes absolutely no sense to me. Never cared for the "extra" math, and I never will.

[paulat]

The Only Funny Joan Rivers Joke:

"I know a guy who's so stupid, he can't count to 21 unless he's naked."

[vrwc1]

It makes no sense in any universe. All he has done is give infinity a different name. Any of us could do the same. If you think it's so useful in the "computer universe", how are you going to represent this number "nullity" in that universe? What sequence of binary digits will you use?

[NonValueAdded]

We already have Nullity on the Internet and its value is 404. Can also be recognized by the symbol DU.

[absolootezer0]

2 + 2 = 5 for certain values of 2.

those certain values being what the government tells you they are.

[GYPSY286]

Math was not my strong point. Got into an argument in 3rd or 4th grade with my teacher about multiplication. She always used apples and oranges when explaining math. She told me that multiplying any number by zero is and always will be zero. I asked her if I had an apple in my hand and she multiplied it by 0, would it not be 1 since I still held the apple?

[r9etb]

Dirac delta functions are used all the time in higher math.

But the definition of the delta function doesn't divide by zero -- it explicitly avoids doing so. From the always excellent Mathworld site:

The closest you get, definitionally, is this one:

,

But you'll not that the 0⁺ specifically precludes division by zero.

[wastedyears]

Good example

[andy58-in-nh]

"Zero" has no value. What, then is the opposite of "zero"? It cannot be any number with a value (either positive or negative), because positive is the opposite of negative. The opposite of zero then, is "infinity", which is not valueless, but of indeterminate value. If "zero" is taken as a nullity, then what you are saying is that it represents not only a lack of value but a lack of existence. You cannot then perform a mathematical operation on a number that exists with one that does not, so I think we're back where we started. Where's the Tylenol?

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

Women = Evil

Yes, but they still have a certain bodily part that makes them deisrable.

(Just kidding, you women)

[COEXERJ145]

Only Chuck Norris can divide by zero. Plus, Chuck Norris has counted to infinity.....twice.

Only after Jack Bauer did it.

[wastedyears]

Vicodin would work better.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Unless your code has...oh, I don't know...EXCEPTION HANDLING?!

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who ya are.

[norton]

"Don't see it as anymore ridiculous than i. Square root of negative -1. "

The definition of 'i' is properly stated as:

"The precise moment, and resulting argument between professor and student, at which Norton transforms from 'hard' to Politcal 'Science'."

Discovered in the 'Sixties, these kids are way behind.

[JamesP81]

It makes no sense in any universe. All he has done is give infinity a different name. Any of us could do the same. If you think it's so useful in the "computer universe", how are you going to represent this number "nullity" in that universe?

It would be given an arbitrary value that wouldn't be used in any other fashion in that software. When I find myself in this situation, I usually just declare the pointer to the sector of memory that needs to hold the value of something divided by zero as being null, which means the pointer points to nothing.

[lepton]

Actually, doesn't dividing by zero yield an infinite value?

That's one way to interpret it. Another is that it simultaneously yields all values. Dividing both sides by zero lets you simply pick which ones.