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Discussion in 'Physics & Math' started by DirtyDave, Aug 20, 2003.

  1. DirtyDave Registered Member

    Messages:
    17
    is zero a number?? as far as im concerned 0 = infinate, as when u times a number by a small number like for instance 0.000000000000000000000001 u get a big number, so times it by 0 its infinate, if drawn on a graph it wud equal tan 90 an exponantial curve, if u use the triangle graphs

    N

    (infinate) 0

    now any number x infinate equals 0, any number divided by 0 equalls infinate but infinate x 0 dosnt equal N (any number) if some one could clear tis up for me as to wether 0 is a number n clear up my little theory it wud b much appreciated, thanx
     
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  3. Persol I am the great and mighty Zo. Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,946
    I would say yes
    0 is a number because it is a specific quanitity
    infinite is not a specific quanity

    But I guess it depends on how you define 'number'
     
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  5. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,989
    Zero is weird. For one thing... how can you divide nothing up? Example:
    0/2 = 0.

    0/2 = 0/3 = 0/4 = 0/5 = ...

    Hmm..
     
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  7. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    You've got some of that stuff a little wrong. I think you mean that when you divide one number by a small number you get a big number. If you multiply one number by a small number you get a small number. (We say "multiply," not "times." "Times" is the way you read the multiplication sign "x" out loud, but it's not a verb.) Zero is most definitely not infinite. It is about as finite as you can get. Any number that can be measured is finite, and it's really easy to measure something that you've run out of. Like zero money or beer or gasoline.

    So, zero is a number. We have to be able to express any number as the sum of its real component and its imaginary component. Zero = 0+0i. Can't get any more numeric than that. (i = the square root of -1. I don't know how far along you are in your math classes. i is very important in electronics.)

    Zero, the symbol "0," is also a numeral. Specifically, what we call an Arabic numeral, from the set 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The Roman numerals -- I, II, III, IV, etc. -- don't have a zero.
     
  8. oxymoron Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    454
    0 as a counting number

    What about 0! ?

    Factorial is generally accepted as the products of all the preceeding counting numbers (1,2,3,4,...) up to and including that number. So 5! would be 1.2.3.4.5 = 120. (it is for this reason (and others) why I am one of those people who don't think zero is a counting number. However some people do, so I ask those people the follwoing question...). If 0 is a counting number how come 0! = 1.

    I know the answer, lets see who else can work it out!

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    Also, does anyone here think zero is or is not a counting number and for what reason?
     
  9. AndersHermansson Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    334
  10. Specialist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    46
    By the very definition of factoral it's the amout of possible way to arrange N items.

    Since N=0, we only have 1 item "none" and it can only be arrange into 1 combination.
     
  11. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    n! = (n+1)! / (n+1)

    Therefore 0! = 1! / (0+1) = 1/1 = 1

    It's -1 ! where the formula breaks down, not zero.
     
  12. ProCop Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,258
    RE

    I would say

    infinity>0

    because

    infinity>1 and 1>0

    (0 is a number, because you can sensefully compare it to/with other numbers (you cannot compare a letter eg. a to 0 a>0 /would be possible only if a represents a number (a would then be a variable)))
     
  13. Dapthar Gone for Good. Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    203
    That's a bit of a half-hearted definition that you're using to explain why 0! = 1, since it fixes one problem, but raises other questions (since it breaks down for non - integer inputs). Things work out much more cleanly if one simply defines x! to be the Gamma function, then one simply plugs in x = 0 and gets 1.
     
  14. Canute Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,923
    I recommend 'The Nothing That Is' (a history of the mathematical and philosophical concept of zero) by Robert Kaplan. It's completely brilliant, (and deals with 0/1 at some length).
     
  15. John Connellan Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,636
    Is 0/0 = 1?

    If so, that is strange as well. We get a number out of nothing!
     
  16. HallsofIvy Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    307
    No, 0/0 is not equal to 1. While it is true that
    0/0= 1 is equivalent to 0= 0*1 (a true statement), it is also true that 0/0= 2 is equivalent to 0= 0*2, 0/0= 100000 is equivalent to 0= 0*100000, etc. all true statements. For any number x, the
    statement 0/0= x is equivalent to 0= 0*x, a true statement.

    We cannot assign any specific value to 0/0. To note the distinction between this and "1/0" where 1/0= x, for x any number gives 1= 0*x, a false statement, we say that 1/0 is "undefined" while 0/0 is "undetermined".
     
  17. John Connellan Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,636
    Well I was looking at it from the other great axiom in maths which is that anything divided by itself = 1.
    Using the 2 together we can say that:

    2/2 = 1 as is 2 = 1*2
    0/2 = 0 as is 0 = 0*2

    0/0 = 1 as is 0 = 1*0

    However using the 2nd axiom, 0/0 cannot be equal to 2 because it is equal to 1.

    What u have done is take a wrong equation 0/0 = 2 and then changed it around so that it read a true statement. It should never have gotten to 0/0 = 2 in the first place though because of the axiom.

    Just my opinion though really....!
     
  18. On Radioactive Waves lost in the continuum Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    985
    Its okay to multiply by zero, but its not okay to divide by zero.
     
  19. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,429
    I myself have divided mathematical numbering into 2 part: Calculus numbering and Normal numbering (sorry if that confuses you). In Calculus, I only consider 0 as either a very small non-negative or a very small non-positive number, like 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007
    While infinite is somewhat like very big number like 293million billion trillion.
    in Normal Math, infinite is some number which doesn't exist on the 'number-line' (think of either x-axis or y-axis for better visualization), while 0 is the number which is located in the middle of the axis.
    Argue me.
     
  20. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,989
    How about this proof that everything is true

    a = b
    a*a = b (assume)
    a = b/a
    Because b = a
    a = a/a
    a = 1

    Now, about that part that says a*a = a
    a^2 - a = 0
    a(a - 1) = 0
    a = 0, 1
    Therefore, 0 = 1

    hehe. That is actually a modification of a "proof" I did in calculus to entertain myself.
    0 = 0
    0*0 = 0
    0 = 0/0
    0 = 1

    How is this relevant to thread? It is not... I just did see the need to make a new thread on something as stupid as that.

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    Umm, ok I am done.
     
  21. HallsofIvy Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    307
    There is no such axiom. There is a theorem that says, in any field, anything EXCEPT 0, has a multiplicative inverse.
    Applied to the rational, real, or complex numbers, that says that anything EXCEPT 0, divided by itself is 1.

    That's a very strange thing to do. In Calculus, as "Normal" mathematics, 0 is neither negative nor positive and 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007 is not 0 in any mathematics.

    Even in non-standard analysis, in which one works with infinitesmals, 0 is not an infinitesmal.
     
  22. Canute Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,923
    4DHyperCubix

    Very good. I'm so pathetic at mathematics I actually found it interesting that 0 and 1 have so much in common.

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    Canute
     
  23. AndersHermansson Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    334
    There's a large crack in this so-called proof

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    I numbered the lines.

    At line 1, you subtract both sides by a. Which means what you have left is merely an expression that will evaluate to 0 at two values of a; a = 0 and a = 1.

    Dunno where you get your equality at line 4 from really. What a mind job!

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    Last edited: Sep 30, 2003

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