Impossible Problem?

orosmatthew

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Nov 10, 2014
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So I made up this problem and tried to find an answer and I got something strange. The Problem in 0x=3 What does "x" equal? I decided to have a go at what i could find out. Here is what I did. I put a solvable problem on the right with doing the same thing to what I am doing to the "impossible" problem. (separated by dashes)

0x=3 ------------------- 2x=6

Divide by 0 on each side but you can divide by zero but whatever the answer of 3/0 would be it would be equal to x.
I replaced x with 3/0.

0(3/0)=3------------------- 2(6/2) = 6

Distributive Property now.

0 * 3 / 0 * 0 = 3------------------- 2 * 6 / 2 * 2 = 6

I got...

0/0 = x ------------------- 12/4 = x

But when you do 0 * 0 / 0 you get 0/0 not 3 but it works with the solvable problem.:confused:

0 * 0 / 0 = 0/0------------------- 2 * 12/4 = 6

So what I get as a final answer is that 0/0 equals 3 but 3 can be any number so is 0/0 equal to every number???




Please tell me what I am doing wrong, thanks!:D
 
I know but what I'm saying is that if you can do it to a problem that is solvable why should I get something different in this one other than a right answer? Tell me what part of the problem I'm doing wrong, thank you.
 
I know but what I'm saying is that if you can do it to a problem that is solvable why should I get something different in this one other than a right answer? Tell me what part of the problem I'm doing wrong, thank you.

Because when you divide in a problem that is solvable what you are really saying, to use your example, since 2 is not zero, we can divide by 2. However, when you have a problem which is not solvable, again to use your example, since 'that number sitting there' is zero we can not divide by 'that number sitting there' (or, to make an interesting but strange sounding statement, since zero is zero we can not divide by zero).

As an interesting aside, to me anyway, here's another one of those dividing by zero leads to strange conclusions type things: Let
x = y
then divide by x and we have
1 = y/x
Now let y = 0 and we have
1 = 0
Adding one to each side gives
2 = 1 =0
or continue in this fashion to get
n = n-1 = n-2 = ... = 2 = 1 = 0
Since n can be any number, all integers are equal. [If y = 0 and x = y, then x = 0 and we can not divide by x which is zero]
 
Because when you divide in a problem that is solvable what you are really saying, to use your example, since 2 is not zero, we can divide by 2. However, when you have a problem which is not solvable, again to use your example, since 'that number sitting there' is zero we can not divide by 'that number sitting there' (or, to make an interesting but strange sounding statement, since zero is zero we can not divide by zero).

As an interesting aside, to me anyway, here's another one of those dividing by zero leads to strange conclusions type things: Let
x = y
then divide by x and we have
1 = y/x
Now let y = 0 and we have
1 = 0
Adding one to each side gives
2 = 1 =0
or continue in this fashion to get
n = n-1 = n-2 = ... = 2 = 1 = 0
Since n can be any number, all integers are equal. [If y = 0 and x = y, then x = 0 and we can not divide by x which is zero]


Thank you for explaining to me :)
 
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Originally Posted by Denis
0 divided by anything is equal to 0. [FONT=MathJax_Main-Web] [/FONT][FONT=MathJax_Main-Web] [/FONT][FONT=MathJax_Main-Web] [/FONT][FONT=MathJax_Main-Web] [/FONT]

No, the "anything" can't be equal to 0, because then that makes it undefined.

But 0 is nothing - not anything.
 
I made up this problem and tried to find an answer and I got something strange. The Problem is 0x=3 What does "x" equal?
Any variable, multiplied by zero, yields zero. So you have created an equation that claims that zero equals three. The reason this isn't making sense is because, well, it doesn't make any sense! There is no solution! ;)
 
Any variable, multiplied by zero, yields zero. So you have created an equation that claims that zero equals three. The reason this isn't making sense is because, well, it doesn't make any sense! There is no solution! ;)

I'm not saying zero is equal to three. I'm saying that 0/0 equals 3 :eek:
 
I'm not saying zero is equal to three. I'm saying that 0/0 equals 3 :eek:
No; you're concluding that (something that doesn't actual exist) equals three. And your "logic" leads sensibly to the conclusion that (the thing that doesn't actually exist) equals (anything you'd care to pick):

. . . . .0x = [my cat]

Therefore:

. . . . .[my cat] = 0/0

Since the "logical" conclusion is nonsense, then the original assumption must also have been nonsense. This doesn't prove that the nonsense was actually sensible. It proves that the assumption was erroneous. ;)
 
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