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There seems to be a common belief that anything divided by zero equals infinity, which is not remotely the case. The result of this operation (x/0) is undefined, it's wrong and you don't do this. Because if it did, then 1/0 would equal to infinity, but so would 2/0, which would imply that 1=2. And I don't think that's how maths works.
There is a number, though, that is close to what you may want and that is the aleph null (א0), which represents the cardinality (the number of elements) of the set of all natural integers (which is infinite, obviously), but it behaves a bit differently than your normal numbers (for example א0 + 1 = א0
You can also prove that x/0 is not equal to infinity just by looking at the graph of the function f(x)=1/x. As you approach the origin from the negative side, it will skyrocket up, towards positive infinity, but when you approach the origin from the positive side, it will go down, towards negative infinity.
That's all junior high school mathematics.
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Quote:also if you think that infinity - 1 must be a number
No, it's not a number, because that's kind of like saying potato - 1 is a number.
(02-17-2015, 10:10 PM)Protégé Wrote: You can also prove that x/0 is not equal to infinity just by looking at the graph of the function f(x)=1/x. As you approach the origin from the negative side, it will skyrocket up, towards positive infinity, but when you approach the origin from the positive side, it will go down, towards negative infinity.
Who's to say infinity can't behave like zero where plus becomes minus and vice versa?
(02-17-2015, 11:33 PM)Yber Wrote: 1= (-1)^2=Root[(-1)^2]= -1. 1= -1 -> 2= 0
What did I just do.
1 = (-1)^2 = sqrt((-1)^2) = sqrt(1) = 1 ≠ -1.
(02-17-2015, 11:33 PM)Yber Wrote: Who's to say infinity can't behave like zero where plus becomes minus and vice versa?
If I understood your question correctly: If you consider infinity to be the sum of an infinite series of positive numbers and negative infinity to be the series of an infinite series of negative numbers, it is rather clear that infinity cannot "flip" signs, as the sum of an infinite positive series (e.g. 1+2+3+4+...+n) will always be positive and the sum of an infinite negative series (e.g. -1-2-3-4-...-n) will always be negative.
The number zero can also not be positive nor negative, just to clarify: Defining positive or negative zero does not make any sense, as a negative number is defined as any number smaller than zero, and a positive number is defined by being larger than zero; zero itself is obviously neither larger nor smaller than itself, so it is not a positive nor negative number.
...I hope that makes at least a bit of sense, not sure if I explained that too well.
Edit: I think I misunderstood that, so here's a quick note regarding the case of 1/x: the function will never cross the y-axis and will thus not "flip" signs as it approaches infinity, as 1/0 is not defined as stated earlier.