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If some-one gives you something for free and you sell it for 1c, how many
% profit do you make?
I asked the accountant, a whole lot of others and the "maths-genius" at
work.
The answer they gave was:
100%. No 200%. No it's impossible to work out.
I asked my 14 year old son.
His answer was infinite%
--
-Nekar Xenos-
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Nekar Xenos <nek### [at] gmail com> wrote:
> If some-one gives you something for free and you sell it for 1c, how many
> % profit do you make?
In principle there's no answer because there's a division by zero, and
there's no number in the set of reals that would be the answer to that
("infinity" is not part of the set of real numbers.)
It's the same as asking: If I have 1 cent and divide it among zero people,
how many cents do I give to each person?
--
- Warp
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On 18/09/2011 08:20 AM, Nekar Xenos wrote:
> I asked my 14 year old son.
>
> His answer was infinite%
Division by zero is not defined. "Infinity percent" is the closest
reasonable answer; the other option is "there is no answer".
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On 9/19/2011 1:08, Invisible wrote:
> On 18/09/2011 08:20 AM, Nekar Xenos wrote:
>
>> I asked my 14 year old son.
>>
>> His answer was infinite%
>
> Division by zero is not defined.
It's not defined over the reals. If you define it to be "infinity" then it's
defined. :-)
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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On 19/09/2011 06:47 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 9/19/2011 1:08, Invisible wrote:
>> On 18/09/2011 08:20 AM, Nekar Xenos wrote:
>>
>>> I asked my 14 year old son.
>>>
>>> His answer was infinite%
>>
>> Division by zero is not defined.
>
> It's not defined over the reals. If you define it to be "infinity" then
> it's defined. :-)
Well, if you define it to be Heth then it's defined... It's not
necessarily a good idea though.
Fact is, 0 * infinity = 0, so it's not a sensible answer. Unless you
change the axioms of arithmetic. (And even if you do, division by zero
leads to logical paradoxes left, right and center...)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On 9/19/2011 11:20 AM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>
> Well, if you define it to be Heth then it's defined... It's not
> necessarily a good idea though.
>
> Fact is, 0 * infinity = 0, so it's not a sensible answer. Unless you
> change the axioms of arithmetic. (And even if you do, division by zero
> leads to logical paradoxes left, right and center...)
>
Somehow I knew you'd post something like this. The fact is, however,
that defining division by zero to be infinity is actually quite common
and very useful in some areas of mathematics, and it doesn't lead to
paradoxes if you modify arithmetic suitably.
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On 9/19/2011 11:20, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Fact is, 0 * infinity = 0, so it's not a sensible answer.
I can't imagine how you can say dividing by zero is undefined, but then go
and define multiplying zero by infinity. :-)
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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What I remembered from school was 1/0=infinity
It must have been something to do with limets.
The answer to the brainteaser is definitely not < infinity
And my son's answer was closer than the maths guy's first try at 100% :P
--
-Nekar Xenos-
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On 20/09/2011 06:45 AM, Nekar Xenos wrote:
> And my son's answer was closer than the maths guy's first try at 100% :P
Hell yes...
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On 20/09/2011 02:06 AM, Darren New wrote:
> On 9/19/2011 11:20, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> Fact is, 0 * infinity = 0, so it's not a sensible answer.
>
> I can't imagine how you can say dividing by zero is undefined, but then
> go and define multiplying zero by infinity. :-)
If you multiply *anything* by zero, the result is always zero. This
isn't exactly news. We're not "defining" anything, we're just using the
pre-existing definition of how multiplication by zero works.
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