Math Teacher DIVIDES BY ZERO (Not Satire)
Posted by Stan at 12/11/2007 2:46 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
Schoolchildren from Caversham have become the first to learn a brand new theory that dividing by zero is possible using a new number - 'nullity'. But the suggestion has left many mathematicians cold.
Original Article
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I am probably missing the big picture here. But............
I started off thinking this was a dumb idea, then I got to thinking that for computing it could be a breakthrough, now I think this theory is just another way of trying to define the undifinable rather than actually applying a value in the physical world. For example if I have 4 packets each containing 5 chocolate bars then I can work out (if I take my socks off!) that I have a total of twenty chocolate bars.
However, if I have no packets then each packet cannot contain a number of bars (1,2,3 for example), the packet cannot contain 1 bar because the packet does not exist to contain that bar. So maybe "nullity" does have a use for me after all? How did I ever manage without it?
read more | digg story
Original Article
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am probably missing the big picture here. But............
I started off thinking this was a dumb idea, then I got to thinking that for computing it could be a breakthrough, now I think this theory is just another way of trying to define the undifinable rather than actually applying a value in the physical world. For example if I have 4 packets each containing 5 chocolate bars then I can work out (if I take my socks off!) that I have a total of twenty chocolate bars.
However, if I have no packets then each packet cannot contain a number of bars (1,2,3 for example), the packet cannot contain 1 bar because the packet does not exist to contain that bar. So maybe "nullity" does have a use for me after all? How did I ever manage without it?
read more | digg story
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