Divide by Zero
Understanding the Mathematical Principles Behind Infinity
According to the logic of mathematics if we are to take any integer, like the number 3 and divide it by 0 we get infinity. But why is it infinity? If we were to multiply 3 by zero, we would only get zero and not infinity. So why does dividing a number by zero produce such a more massive result and how is such a result calculated to be accurate in the first place? During a lecture by a college professor of mathematics, I believe it was at UCLA, I recall a student asking about the divide by zero equation and resulting infinity. He pointed out that the that the answer was not specifically infinity, so much as ‘undefined’. At first I didn’t much like this answer, but since infinity is an indefinable sum, it could be said to be logically consistent.
But where the vast majority of people are concerned the answer to divide by zero is always infinity. So how is it that we arrive at this result? The answer to the question is surprisingly simple and is the basis for many other mathematical concepts like that of differential equations, which allow us to find the slope of a line at a single point. Lets take the number six and begin dividing it by different decreasing integers;
6 / 6 = 1
6 / 5 = 1.2
6 / 4 = 1.5
6 / 3 = 2
6 / 2 = 3
6 / 1 = 6
6 / 0.5 = 12
6 / 0.25 = 24
6 / 0.125 = 48
6 / ….
6 / 0 = Infinity
As we can see, the closer that our divisor reaches the limit zero the larger the result. It is effectively doubling each time. Taking this to its logical conclusion then, we could say that at zero the result will be infinite.
If this is true then it begs certain other questions such as what is infinity and what is zero? Lets look at infinity first, by first looking at the number 1.
(See next post; 0.99999999… is equal to 1)
