Dividing Nothing

[GrandEnder]

When you divide 0 by 0, your calculating how many 0s go into 0. Since 0 multiplied by anything equals 0, the answer to 0/0 equals X, X being all numbers.

Any thoughts ont he division of 0?

 

[En_Fuego]

Dividing a number into zero isn't possible, as zero is nothing.

 

[JetFangInferno]

It's like asking how many nothings go into something?

 

[Teh_Ephy]

Technically, dividing by zero results in positive and negative infinity, and leads to generally fun but dysfunctional things like one equaling two.

 

[HINDYhat]

I guess you all misunderstood. Dividing 0 by 0 is indeterminate. It is possible, though, to find a value to which that division approaches using limits. Here's a very simple example

lim (x² + x - 2)/(x - 1)
x->1

If you substitute 1, you get 0/0. It's possible though to find the value to which this expression approaches by just factoring:

lim (x² + x - 2)/(x - 1)
x->1

lim (x - 1)(x + 2)/(x-1)
x->1

lim (x+2) = 1 + 2 = 3
x->1

There are a bunch of better techniques to solve 0/0 indeterminate limits (look up l'Hopital's rule), but yeah that was just a simple example.

Moral of the story: 0/0 is an indeterminate value. It's impossible to get the value of 0/0, but it is possible to find the value to which the function approaches about that point.