eli5: Why haven’t mathematicians invented a symbol for x/0 like they have pi and imaginary numbers?
In: 277
Why would you create a variable or define a nonexistent quality? It would be absolutely pointless because it wouldn’t be used for anything.
Because x/0 is undefined. Pi and imaginary numbers are defined. The squareroot of -1 could be undefined but mathematicians found a way to make sense of it. Treating i as a different kind of number works. Its consistent with already existing maths most importantly. Treating x/0 valid isnt consistent with maths. To see why: if a/b=c then c×b=a if b=0 this is incorrect becaus c×0=0 and not a. What if a=0? Then 0/0=c so c×0=0. The second one is true but with the first one the issue is that c could be any number. There is no way to make sense of this so we just say that this x/0 is undefined. Its not useful unlike i or pi.
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