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| 21 JAN 2003 at 4:23pm |
AyaGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7277
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | (a+b)=b => a=b-b => a=0 so b=0
so you divided by zero!
You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.
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| 21 JAN 2003 at 5:59pm |
Agustín CordesGuild Master
Posts : 5696
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: AR, Buenos Aires
Status : Offline | Excellent, Panayotis
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 2:08am |
AyaGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7277
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | well math's my strongest point!
You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 3:00am |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Aya_Brea (22 JAN 2003 2:08am)
well math's my strongest point!
I still hate math but in the above it's pretty obvious that if 2a = a then a must be 0; so instead of 2 = 1 the last line should really read 0 = 0. In high school math lessons they were beating into our heads that when solving problems like this, you need to set up the contstraints - so when you divide by a variable, it can't be zero.
It's still a fun puzzle though
I forgot my sig.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 3:14am |
AyaGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7277
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By MichalN (22 JAN 2003 3:00am)
I still hate math but in the above it's pretty obvious that if 2a = a then a must be 0; so instead of 2 = 1 the last line should really read 0 = 0. In high school math lessons they were beating into our heads that when solving problems like this, you need to set up the contstraints - so when you divide by a variable, it can't be zero.
that was the point i guess... to confuse you by dividing by a which is in fact 0... of course there could be another explanation using imaginary numbers! (are they called that in english?)
You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 7:55am |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Aya_Brea (22 JAN 2003 3:14am)
that was the point i guess... to confuse you by dividing by a which is in fact 0... of course there could be another explanation using imaginary numbers! (are they called that in english?)
Complex numbers you mean? Which have a real and imaginary part? That wouldn't work though since division by zero does not result in a complex number... at best it produces infinity.
Or did you mean something else?
I forgot my sig.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 1:13pm |
AyaGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7277
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By MichalN (22 JAN 2003 7:54am)
Complex numbers you mean? Which have a real and imaginary part? That wouldn't work though since division by zero does not result in a complex number... at best it produces infinity.
Or did you mean something else?
i mean the i thing! (that was scientific wasn't it? ) they are called imaginary numbers and IIRC could be divided by zero... smth like that! it's been nearly ten years you now :
You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 1:26pm |
Agustín CordesGuild Master
Posts : 5696
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: AR, Buenos Aires
Status : Offline | Yes, Panayotis, the "i" thing are called Complex Numbers. And no single number can be divided by zero!!! - at least, not in our math system That is unless you define a set where "zero" is an element that has a special behaviour.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 1:39pm |
AyaGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7277
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Rael (22 JAN 2003 1:26pm)
Yes, Panayotis, the "i" thing are called Complex Numbers. And no single number can be divided by zero!!! - at least, not in our math system That is unless you define a set where "zero" is an element that has a special behaviour.
ok i won't argue but i somehow remember that within the complex numbers there could be division by zero... i'll look it up at some point
You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 6:28pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Aya_Brea (22 JAN 2003 1:38pm)
ok i won't argue but i somehow remember that within the complex numbers there could be division by zero... i'll look it up at some point
No, but you can take a square root of negative numbers in the complex domain. And I believe i is in fact sqrt(-1) (or i * i = -1 if you wish).
I forgot my sig.
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| 22 JAN 2003 at 7:18pm |
ElfstoneGuild Master
Posts : 5892
Joined: 4 NOV 2002
Status : Online | Ah yes, always prove the results by putting the values for the variables and recalculating.
I fell for it!
Crap, I've forgotten everything in just a year...
[b]playing[/b]: Destination Treasure Island (done in two sittings, but it's nice), Syberia (ho-hum), Dracula: Last Sanctuary (on hold)&&[b]reading[/b]: even more study papers&&[b]listening to[/b]: [url=http://www.last.fm/user/Brax82/]this and that[/url], plus [url=http://www.musicovery.com/]Musicovery[/url]&&[b]TV favorites[/b]: (currently) Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Journeyman (cancelled! grrr...), Heroes&& all-time) 24, Stargate SG1, X-Files, Lost, House
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