This is a true breakthough if it really works, but there are a lot of mathematicians who are calling “bullshit” on this one. Anybody out there want to try and prove/disprove this guy?
Computers simply cannot divide by zero. Try it on your calculator and you’ll get an error message.
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.
The biggest problem is that the concept of “nullity” isn’t like the “imaginary” number i (the square of -1), which actually exists and is vital to engineering, especially in power transmission. Even if you have a symbol for the concept, that doesn’t mean you can continue to calculate.
Fuel – Nothing Lyrics
My destiny called me
But I wound up right back here
Cause it doesnt’ mean nothing
Nothing means nothing
at all
I went chasing shadows till I thought I’d
disappeared
But it doesn’t mean nothing
Nothing
means nothing at all
So if I throw up my hands
Would
you say that nothing’s wrong
It makes no difference
man it’s all just gonna fade
It doesn’t matter
anyway
I want to belong here
But I’m not
sure here exists
Cause it doesn’t mean nothing
Nothing means nothing at all
I have young ambitions full
of vinegar and piss
But it doesn’t mean nothing
Nothing means nothing at all
So if I throw up my
hands
Would you say that nothing’s wrong
It
makes no difference man it’s all just gonna fade
It
doesn’t matter anyway
Maybe I’ll just find
a place where everything’s so clear
Maybe I’ll
just blow this all away
So if I throw up my hands
Turn my back and walk away
It makes no difference man
it’s all just gonna fade
It doesn’t matter
anyway
It doesn’t matter anyway
But why would you want to divide by zero?
Division by zero is an operation for which you cannot find an answer, so it is disallowed. You can understand why if you think about how division and multiplication are related.
12 divided by 6 is 2 because
6 times 2 is 12
12 divided by 0 is x would mean that
0 times x = 12
But no value would work for x because 0 times any number is 0. So division by zero doesn’t work.
On September 21, 1997 a divide by zero error in the USS Yorktown (CG-48) Remote Data Base Manager brought down all the machines on the network, causing the ship’s propulsion system to fail.
Niccce.
#3 yeah, but there is no number that when squared will result in -1 either. So we make up a number that doesn’t and can’t really exist and define it as the square root of -1.
Problem I can see with this is: x*0=0 so even if you define x as “nullity” nullity * 0 is still going to be equal to 0. Or put in terms of division, x/0 = nullity then nullity * 0 = literally anything, or in other words it’s undefined which is what we’re trying to avoid in the first place.
I don’t see anything useful coming out of this unless you want to make a symbol for computer crashes, in which case we can just use the BSOD as the symbol for nullity.
Funny, I’m using the Calculator in OS X and it gives me “Infinity”, you what Jobs has always said, “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.” ROTFLMAO
I’m not sure what sort of solution that “nullity” represents in theoretical mathematics, but the computer problem that arises from division by zero is a simple extension of the fact that as the divisor approaches zero, the quotient approaches infinity. Without a non-disruptive computer representation of infinity, I don’t see how the problem is really solved.
Long live the “divide by zero” exception!
It’s always been my understanding that the “real” result of dividing by zero was “infinity” because the number of possible results was infinite.
This makes logical sense, but mathematically, the correct answer is “we have no idea” when you divide by zero…. The answer isn’t the [b]number[/b] “infinity”, but that an indeterminable numeric result is the right one.
When dealing with computers, the best thing to do is either substitute zero or the largest number the hardware can represent, or barf. Barfing may be safer because the substitutes will be wrong somewhere along the line. This can cause your favorite Aircraft Carrier to launch on somebody’s driveway….
Coming up with an [i]”i”[/i] does tie down the result to something that may be manipulated, but it doesn’t help the mountain of computers (and/or their software) that won’t get it….
“Nullity” as a shorthand for “we have no idea” may work, IMHO, because it can be manipulated if rules can be created. The product of two nullities, for example, has to be defined. This actually could be useful, I suppose. (I’m no mathematician, but part of the game is to be able to manipulate the numbers you get. To take a very simple example, nullity divided by nullity is still going to be “1”, I would think….)
Regards,
Stu.
Link to BBC article
and
someone’s response
9,
The response linked to in your comment expresses this post’s summation in a more vitriolic way. IMNSHO, the best way to deal with an issue is to tackle the claim directly without calling everyone involved an idiot. He does make some very good points, but they are blunted by his rhetoric.
is nothing sacred?
Never should have stolen the concept of zero from the Arabs.
Posted XII IX MMVI
J/P=?
I’m hoping this proof solves the inability of Time Travel. I really need to get out of this time.
Here is a theory that I once heard:
You’ve got 5 apples. You divide them by nothing. The 5 apples are still there since you cannot dive them. Thus, 5/0 = 5
How did this even make it onto your blog? This is total nonsense. The concept that anything divided by zero equals infinity is vital to most Calculus equations. If I come up with a symbol for a number I just made up, can I get on the blog, too?
16,
If you come up with something controversial and interesting to debate, sure.
#15
Well, let’s put it this way:
YOU have 5 apples and divide them by 0 (nothing), then the Apples will still be there, but they won’t be YOUR apples, because to be yours, you’d have to divide them by 1 (you). So they still are there but in a plane of non-existance…
has the limit for x going to 0 of function 1/x suddenly become nullity as well ? 😉
OK, let me re-phrase my question in #3. If you find yourself in the position of being forced to divide a number by zero, doesn’t that mean you set up the equation wrong in the first place?
Gary Marks in #7 gives the best answer for why “x/0” = infinity.
Agreed, with #16. As I remember back to my calc classes, the only time you really have a problem is when you have a 0/0 situation.
To #22:
When you get 0/0 you just take derivatives of the top and the bottom until the function makes sense.
L’Hospital’s Rule. http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/3/lhospital.1/index.html
To #18:
You are completely right. That theory falls apart when you put it that way.
the logic of x/0=infinity is sound. dividing by less than one increases the result rather than decreasing it. (eg x divided by 1/2 is the same as x times 2). as the denominator of the fraction gets smaller, the result gets ever bigger (x/0.05 is ten times larger, x/0.005 a hundred times, etc).
When I first read this story I thought the number was called ‘nutty’, and you pulled this from The Onion.
“Black holes are where God divided by 0…”
#20 “so, infinite divided by zero just explodes. The only thing to know is the direction of the explosion”
… and the mass, charge and direction of rotation.
Here is another reason why this concept is rubbish:
If we take an equation like y= (x^2-1)/(x+1) then we can factorize the top to be (x+1)(x-1).
y=[(x+1)(x-1)]/(x+1) the x+1 at the top and the x+1 at the bottom cancel and we are left with y=x-1
If we substitute x=-1 in the simplified version of the equation we get y=-1-1=-2
But if we substitute x=-1 in the original form of the equation we get [(-1)^2-1]/(-1+1)=(1-1)/0=0/0
According to this guy 0/0=nullity but by first simplifying the equation and then substituting x=-1 the answer is -2 so nullity is the same as -2 in this case, but nullity is not on the number line. What utter crap!
You know what. This guy proves why christians don’t want our kids to learn about evolution and other matters of such magnitude.
This guys is a crazy idiot. He didn’t solve no problem. He just made up yet another word for the situation. WTF has he been smoking ?
Real people with REAL ideas have solved this problem in think tanks all around the country, yet they are paid to not say anything because that is the way things are done in the real world. I bet this guy is the one that holds the patent on peanut butter and jelly sandwich making and then some.
29,
Your argument doesn’t come across very strongly when you use a double negative.
32,
Well, it would if he was supporting it…
High end Hewlett Packard calculators (starting with the HP-28C in 1987) have the option of returning an answer of “infinity” for x/0.
Steve