http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/ ... ture.shtml
This is old news, but I'm curious to hear your opinions on this.
:?:
This is old news, but I'm curious to hear your opinions on this.
:?:
Divide by zero, "nullity"
- Thread starter jwpaine
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He "defines" 0/0 to be the "number" "nullity". But what number is this? I can't see anywhere where he actually says what the number is. Is it real? Complex? Imaginary? Purple with pink polka-dots? Episcopalian vegan? What?
All I see is him going on and on about how he's make a breath-taking break-through, how he's revolutionising science and mathematics with his world-changing definition. But what has "changed", exactly?
Note: I didn't bother watching the hand-waving videos. If he's actually accomplished something substantive, surely he can put it in writing...?
Just my opinion, of course; I could be wrong....
Eliz.
All I see is him going on and on about how he's make a breath-taking break-through, how he's revolutionising science and mathematics with his world-changing definition. But what has "changed", exactly?
Note: I didn't bother watching the hand-waving videos. If he's actually accomplished something substantive, surely he can put it in writing...?
Just my opinion, of course; I could be wrong....
Eliz.
Okay, so how would this new definition of "nullility" help to solve the equation \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{x}\ = 0\)? How will this "revolutionise" mathematics? Apart from letting computers write "Nullility" instead of "undefined" when division by zero is encountered. It's the same number of letters anyway. 
xXAceFireXx
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i thought division by zero was made possible through calc...
i have always thought of the same theory and talked to my teachers about it but they just ignore me and tell me to go by the text book >_<
except my theory does not have a number divided by 0 equal negative infinity through positive infinity... just infinity
ex... 10/0
if 10 is divided by 0 it does not stop dividing until it comes to dividing into 10
BUT... it doesn't ever stop dividing (infinite) because adding 0 up to 10 an infinite number of times will never get the original number to become 10... i know this sounds confusing because i am horrible at explaining stuff... but thats MY opinion
except my theory does not have a number divided by 0 equal negative infinity through positive infinity... just infinity
ex... 10/0
if 10 is divided by 0 it does not stop dividing until it comes to dividing into 10
BUT... it doesn't ever stop dividing (infinite) because adding 0 up to 10 an infinite number of times will never get the original number to become 10... i know this sounds confusing because i am horrible at explaining stuff... but thats MY opinion
In the picture where it says that it is the symbol for nullity, why are they using the same symbol as is used in standardised normal distributions where
P(Z<n)=phi(n)
It is the same symbol as for phi.
All that Dr Anderson has done is made a new word for undefined...and even abbreviated it to a symbol we already need for something which is REAL!
Why make something up just because nobody understands it. It's oversimplifying.
[/list][/tex]
P(Z<n)=phi(n)
It is the same symbol as for phi.
All that Dr Anderson has done is made a new word for undefined...and even abbreviated it to a symbol we already need for something which is REAL!
Why make something up just because nobody understands it. It's oversimplifying.
[/list][/tex]
D
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Unfortunately I could not find any application among [...all kinds of sums possible..] many that has been claimed here.jwpaine said:
I, personally, tend to give a lot of lee-ways to these types of claims - just remember what happened to "Newton/Liebnietz's concept of limits" or more recently "quantum mechanics" or "string theory". These may sound like a useless mathematical trick in the begining - but these do something - explain something.
However, when I do not see any application (string theory explains gravity) - past or present - or any prediction that can be tested - then I am skeptical.