What is a number divided by zero?

Question

Example: 5/0, 100/0, 32/0, etc.

I've heard some people say it's infinity and others say it's undefined. Still, some have even said it's not allowed in math. OK. I'm confused. Which is it and can someone explain why? Thank you very much!

Answer 1

infinity

Answer 2

Thanks for the help guys. I'll leave out the infinity stuff (but ask my math teacher about it sometime) and just take it that it's undefined. Appreciate it!

Answer 3

As others say, it's undefined.



The idea that it's infinity is "folk mathematics": an idea of people who don't use math.

Answer 4

Division by 0 is undefined i.e. it is meaningless, and it is NOT true that it approaches Infinity, which I will deal with later. Any division statement e.g. has a corresponding multipliication statement e.g. 12/3 = 4 is a division statement and the corresponding multiplication statement is 12 = 3 x 4; similarly 36/12 = 3 and 36 = 12 x 3. Suppose then we could in fact divide by 0 and that 10/0 = N for some number N then the corresponding multiplication statement is 10 = 0 x N; but 0 times anything = 0 so that means that 10 = 0! Not only that, but no matter what number we try to divide by 0 to give an answer of N means that the number = 0 i.e. all numbers are equal to 0, which is difficult. Now for that suggestion that the answer tends to infinity - it is not true. Certainly, 1/x tends to + Infinity as x tends to 0 FROM THE +VE SIDE i.e. although x tends to 0 but is still +ve, but if x tends to 0 from the -ve side i.e. x tends to 0 but is -ve, then 1/x tends to - Infinity, not + Infinity.

Answer 5

Technically, it's undefined, mainly because there is an infinity of answers, all different, all contradictory. So, we often refer to the result as "infinity", as a linguistic shortcut.

Answer 6

A number divided by zero is undefined, but approaches infinity as the denominator approaches zero.

Answer 7

Anything divided by 0 is not defined in mathematics because dividing by zero makes no sense. You cannot divide anything among zero people. But in some special cases (as in calculus), we take something divided by zero as infinity and something divided by infinity as zero to simplify some limits and make calculations easier. Rest, for standard mathematics, division by zero is undefined behaviour.

Answer 8

It is not possible to divide a number by zero.

Answer 9

"A number divided by itself, surely will not stand" - Bill Nye the Science Guy.