if 0*0=0, why can’t you divide 0 by 0 (the square root of 0) and get 0 (the square root of 0)?

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ditto for cube root, nth root, etc.

In: 5

13 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

So if we want…

> 0 / sqrt(0) = sqrt(0)

But we would also get:

> 0 * (1/sqrt(0)) = 0

as anything multiplied by 0 is 0.

But also, if sqrt(0) = 0, we get:

> 0 / sqrt(0) = 0 / 0 = 1

as anything divided by itself is 1.

And, of course, we get:

> 0 / sqrt(0) = [something] / 0 = ….?

as you cannot divide by 0.

So which is it? Is this sqrt(0), 0, 1 or undefined?

————

So sure, if we “divide both sides by sqrt(0)” we get:

> 0 * sqrt(0) = sqrt(0)

which is a valid statement.

The problem with extrapolating this is that

> 1 * sqrt(0) = sqrt(0)

as well. And also:

> 20 * sqrt(0) = sqrt(0)

so if we try to divide, we get:

> sqrt(0)/sqrt(0) = 1 = 20 = 0

which doesn’t work.

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