Maths question

[potterfan3]

what is 0 divided by 0

on one hand it could be 1 because anything divided by itself is 1

or it could be infinity because anything divided by 0 is infinity...

which one is it?

[Azalian]

Anything divided by zero is NOT "infinity", it's just"undefined"

[Peter Pedant]

it could be a lot of things

but the rule is you can't divide by nought - and this gets over the problem.

if you DO allow it then.....1x0=0=2x0...divide by zero and oh dear it looks like 1 = 2 !

[Ice-Maiden]

I'd say it was just nothing. Anything divided by itself is 1 - but with 0, there's nothing to divide into in the first place.

[mibn2cweus]

Peter, Thanks for that brilliant explanation which makes it clear as day why division by zero is "undefined"! or may I suggest, "indefinite?".

[Physicsgirl]

also....
x^2-x^2
two ways to write this are...(putting them equal)
x(x-x)=(x-x)(x+x)
then if you divide by (x-x) on both sides
x=x+x
x=2x
aaaaargh, 1 really does equal 2. Same as Peter's really.

[nix-j-c]

0 and infinity are undefined numbers so anything devided or multiplyed by an undefind number is impossible to do. if you do it on a calculator it just say error.