From: Ian Goddard (Ian@Goddard.net)
Date: Thu Feb 18 1999 - 13:01:14 MST
At 11:08 AM 2/16/99 -0800, Eric Ruud wrote:
>>IAN: I only see two of those applying to
>>what John said, but I think he's indicated
>>that he sees the answer as more like 1/0
>>than zero, and if so, his statement should
>>be clarified as "The answer is indeterminate."
>
>
>It seems (if my logic is working correctly this morning) that the term 1/0
>would not only denote an indeterminate answer, but that answer would be
>indeterminate because there are no choices.
>
>In this sense, it would be more appropriate for this "God equation" to be
>0/0, because there can be no choice if there are no choices.
>
>I have to side with Ian, however, considering that we've created choices,
>and therefore there ARE choices.
IAN: Well, I hate to disagree with someone
who agreed with me, but I should point out,
since this is central to my point, that 0/0
does have answers, in fact, its problem is
that it can be shown to equal any number!
A dejanews search of forum alt.math will
find a few threads on the topic, and the
prevailing view of mathematicians there
is that 0/0 can be shown via several routs
to equal any number. However, obviously
this leads to fatal contradictions that
render 0/0 "indeterminate." Here's a way
I figured out for arguing why 0/0 = n,
and the subsequent fatal contradiction:
IF a/b = c, then a/c = b.
Since 0/6 = 0, 0/0 = 6.
Since 0/2 = 0, 0/0 = 2.
Ergo: 6 = 2... bOiNg!!!
We arrive at an answer via legal means
but find that the answers are errors.
Yes, 0/n where n is nonzero is legal,
and always equals 0. As we can see,
/0 is chronically indeterminate.
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