Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Division by zero (disambiguation).

Old Proof that I first saw in elementary school in the 50's but still a puzzler to some.
This illustrates why there is a certain mathematical definition for the number zero.

The fifth line is the equation that results from dividing the 4th line by the common term (A-B).

To avoid this paradoxical result that is why 'division by zero is undefined'

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where it all went wrong is in the fifth statement. (A + B) = 2A

Anonymous said...

Correct; but if you divide both halves of the line above by the Common Term (A-B) then the line (A+B) = A is correct.