What Really Happens When You Divide By Zero?
When you divide by zero using a calculator, you’ll likely get some form of error message. You won’t get a rational answer. If you look into math textbooks, you’ll get the term ‘undefined’. As advanced as we are as a species, not everyone has a liking for math, and not everyone is good at math. So, it is understandable that one just takes such a result for granted. But if you are the curious kind, you’ll note that when zero is divided by another non-zero number, we do have a result. When zero gets divided by a non-zero number, we get a rational result (zero). At this point, if you are a human being with a modicum of curiosity, you have to ask THE question. WHY?! Let’s try and unravel this puzzle.
What is Zero?
Zero is a special number as far as the philosophy and the history behind it is concerned. But logically, it is very simple. If you are counting anything, the absence of entities is represented by zero. In simple terms, it is used to denote the fact that ‘no’ entities are present to count. Zero added to any number results in the same number (example: 3 + 0 = 3). Zero subtracted from any number also results in the same number example: (3–0 = 3). Any number…
