calandale wrote:
LeviathanMist wrote:
Consider these statements to be true:
1. Any number divided by zero gives an undefined output.
2. Zero divided by any number equals zero.
3. Any number divided by itself equals 1.
.
Rules can be applied in order. The one that you have is fine. Deal with it.
In fact rule two is the
reason for rule one.
Zero times (the multiplicative inverse of) any number is zero.
Hence 0x = 1 has no real solutions and hence zero doesn't have a multiplicative inverse.
Rule three states that any number multiplied by its multiplicative inverse is one but we have just seen that zero doesn't have a multiplicative inverse...it is all consistent.
In real arithmetic a/b is just the shorthand notation we use for a.b^(-1)
14 Apr 2007, 7:17 am
