Professor Comes Up With a Way to Divide by Zero

54mc writes "The BBC reports that Dr. James Anderson, of the University of Reading, has finally conquered the problem of dividing by zero. His new number, which he calls "nullity" solves the 1200 year old problem that niether Newton nor Pythagoras could solve, the problem of zero to the zero power. Story features video (Real Player only) of Dr. Anderson explaining the "simple" concept."

Argh!!!

[Travoltus]

So much for my $200 calculator.

like databases?

[Anonymous Coward]

ah no, not the same thing. With databases, it means unknown.

Well, maybe it's the same thing. I didn't read the article.

Not everyone's happy

[BadAnalogyGuy]

The professors at 'Rithmetic State were non-plussed upon hearing the news.

Umm... NaN?

[The boojum]

Is it just me or does it sound like he thinks he's invented the NaN?

Hmm

[mdemonic]

There's zero comments yet. Wonder how many comments that is per poster

And this is important, why?

[NETHED]

I can make up numbers too...

What he did was assign the previously "undefined" integer with a defined symbol that means the same thing. Infinity in both directions.

While interesting, the concept has little use.

From the article "Imagine you're landing on an aeroplane and the automatic pilot's working," he suggests. "If it divides by zero and the computer stops working - you're in big trouble. If your heart pacemaker divides by zero, you're dead.".
Now, instead of getting an error message, the computer give a 0 with a line through it, and THEN an error message.

Re:Argh!!!

[MountainMan101]

My £100 (equivalent $200) will happily divide by Zero. It displays and "E" on the screen which I take to mean 14 in hex. So anything divided by Zero is 14. Apart from Zero divided by Zero which amusingly it consider to be Zero.

In fact, using proof-by-blatant-assertion,

if 0/0=14
then 0*14 must = 0
which it does
therefore 0/0=14
so there !

mod post up by ...

[b1ufox]

mod original post up by 0/0 points :)

Rubbish

[Mkoms]

Only Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

YaNaN?

[Marbleless]

Yet Another NaN? ;)

Re:Umm... NaN?

[Tablizer]

Is it just me or does it sound like he thinks he's invented the NaN?

But he gets the credit because "Nullity" sounds smarter, so Nanny Nan Na to you!
         

Nothing to see here, people...

[Lord Aurora]

...move along.

Helpful little hint from the end of the video:

You've just solved a problem we haven't been able to solve for twelve hundred years. And it's that simple.

Yeah. It was that simple.

I'm just reminded of that proof from way-back-when that 2 = 1:

a = b

a^2 = ab

a^2 + a^2 - 2ab = ab + a^2 - 2ab

2(a^2 - ab) = 1(a^2 - ab)

2 = 1

All this guy has done is provide another little fun "proof" that you can use to win bar bets. "Betcha I can divide by zero..."

Re:Rubbish

[neuro.slug]

Pssh. Chuck Norris can divide by zero while delivering a roundhouse kick to conventional mathematics!

Re:mod post up by ...

[Tablizer]

mod original post up by 0/0 points :)

Well, that explains all the goddam dupes
     

Re:Umm... NaN?

[__aaclcg7560]

It's just a warm up before he claims that he invented the Net and comes out with a movie to prove that Al Gore didn't invent the Net.

Re:Not just "division by zero", but 0/0 specifical

[__aaclcg7560]

Anyone feel like explaining the importance of 0/0?

It's what math professors think about when they're too old to bonk a student during those intense one-on-one tutoring sessions.

Warp Zone!

[Fallingcow]

... and dividing by zero while on the nullity line lets you go directly to World 9 with only two Warp Whistles!

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[itwerx]

Seriously though...if this interpretation is incorrect.

Your interpretation is correct but for proper mathematical representation it should be reduced to its simplest form.
      While simpler reductions may be possible I believe the following best conveys the essence of the equation:
      "Dr. Anderson is a pompous idiot."

Re:Argh!!!

[buswolley]

Great, a whole new class of errors just got introduced into my code.

Why is the algorithm producing that? Oh I introduced a nullity.

Furthermore, they shouldn't have called it a nullity. They should have called it a Bush.

Re:Argh!!!

[buswolley]

And a whole new class of bad CScience jokes..That reminds me:

How many light bulbs does it take to change a light bulb?

...

One, if it knows its own Goedel number.

Re:Hmm

[wootest]

Nectar! Nectar! I need to drink my weight in nectar!

Re:Rubbish

[steevc]

So can Bruce Schneier. He uses the result as his private key.

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[mwvdlee]

As I understand it; you take a famous problem (e.g. division-by-zero), give it a new name (e.g. nullity) and claim you've solved the problem.

So, I hereby claim to have solved the well-known Poincaré Conjecture by naming it "frooblewompy". There, problem solved.

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[NoTheory]

I think you mean, "You must be new here."

Although your number is higher than his.

So, perhaps i should say:

You must be new here, because i think you mean, "You must be new here." :)

I was about to view the video clip ...

[CSLarsen]

... but my RealPlayer divided by zero and crashed.

Re:Argh!!!

[killjoe]

How many computer programmers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None. It's a hardware problem

If only we'd had this 30 years ago.

[feepness]

I will never forget when I was about 8 years old going up to the adding machine in my grandfather's home office. It was about twice the size of a toaster and made of that old typewriter metal. It looked like it weighed as much as a car and had probably cost as much new. Just to see what would happen I entered '0', '/' and '0'. Without hesitation it began producing line after line of '0', '0', '0' on the paper tape accompanied by a cacaphony of mechanical gears. It became apparent to me in a split second that it had no intention of stopping. Ever. It had come alive and was angry.

I yanked the plug from the wall socket and ran from the room in terror.

Re:Argh!!!

[edwardpickman]

Is the light bulb conservative? If so we all know conservatives resist change so it's likely the light bulb will ever be changed. Simply adding more conservative light bulbs will not effect change. Adding an equal or greater number of liberal light bulbs is the only way to effect change.

Re:didn't "solve" anything

[alienmole]

I mean, from a CPU's perspective, I don't see how adding any additional hardware would help.

Are you suggesting that there are problems which can't be solved simply by throwing money at them? I'm afraid you're not cut out for government work.

Re:Argh!!!

[eric76]

There is a common term that refers to the process of dividing by zero to get a nullity. It's called a "stupidity".

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[joestoner]

I am quite sure nudity would be a more appalling number

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[mike260]

Also, if any plane ever falls out of the sky because its software was dividing by zero, the engineers should be promptly be drug out into the street and shot.

In any case, I'm not sure I see how nullity rectifies the problem.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We're nullity minutes into this flight, and we're cruising at nullity knots, at an altitude of nullity feet below sea level. We've got a nice tailwind blowing along an axis perpendicular to spacetime, so we hope to arrive at our destination (7i-4) minutes early."

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[kongit]

If you wouldn't mind emailing me your name, address, and credit card number (used only for verification and other stuff) I will send you 1 (one) Nobel prize in the field of mathematics for a limited time offer not exceed 5 days. By accepting this offer you are agreeing that I, the arbitrary nullity, will thus forth be bequeathed of all known possessions you, the numbskull who happens to be still reading this. Furthermore, without further ado, we bring you something completely differential.

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[somersault]

I thought that was %

new things

[yakumo.unr]

If he can make up numbers, then I cam make up words,

this whole thing is utterly stuipfluous.

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[somersault]

No, his original comment makes more sense. Given your attempt to bring him round to your archaic form of existence in repetetive humour, I just you must be old here.

And remember - in Soviet Russia, new becomes you!

Re:YaNaN?

[cyrax256]

Nah... It's more on the lines of "Not another NaN"... heh heh... Not another Nan!, recursive... gettit?

(returns to its corner)

Take his PhD away...

[Nitage]

I just solved the P=NP problem. The answer is peeequalsennpeeanswer - a special word I made up which represents a complete proof.

Re:Argh!!!

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

I just got done finishing CS homework and the answer came in my mind as:

lightbulb(lightbulb())

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[dr. greenthumb]

I get it! If I were to lose half my body in some freaky accident and someone were to give me $10, I'd actually get $20!

Re:Argh!!!

[mrogers]

How many computer scientists does it take to change a lightbulb?

O(1)

Re:Argh!!!

[mrogers]

Adding an equal or greater number of liberal light bulbs is the only way to effect change.

Sure, that's what they tell you before the election. Four years later you realise the electricity bill's gone through the roof and it's still fücking dark.

Re:Argh!!!

[Bush Pig]

It's a bug, not a feature.

Re:Argh!!!

[Bucc5062]

Seems recursive to me. If run it you may fill up the void with light.......God? Is that you?

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[Jesus_666]

I don't know how math professors look in your country, but I think that "appalling" describes anything involving them and nudity quite well.

Re:Argh!!!

[MindKata]

ok I ran lightbulb(lightbulb()) and it gave the answer 42

Then again, it could just be a stack overflow ... so life is a stack crash ... I guess that explains the hangovers I have in the mornings.

Re:Rubbish

[Barsema]

So can Nick Nullty

Re:Argh!!!

[RDW]

He doesn't stop there, either:

http://archives.nesc.ac.uk/gcproposal-5/0080.html [nesc.ac.uk]

"It is simply a technical matter to extend this compiler to deal with the
whole of C. I could then cross-compile from Pop11, Lisp, or any other
language for which there is a C source version. At that point I would be
able to produce massive neural nets that implement operating systems, word
processors, compilers and the like. It would be relatively straight forward
to compile Linux into a neural net. This opens up the possibility of doing
research on massively large neural networks. We could then move away from
our toy implementations and start examining useful systems. "

Imagine a Beow...[Error in universe.pl line 15x10^9: Division by zero]

Re:Argh!!!

[32771]

Conservative light bulbs could also be called dark bulbs.

Re:Argh!!!

[fintler]

So much for my $200 calculator.

wait, you paid $200 for a calculator?

b = $100
a = b
a^2 = ab
a^2-b^2 = ab-b^2
(a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b)
a+b = b
since a = b
b+b = b
2b = b
$200 = $100

They ripped you off. $200 is really only worth $100

Re:new things

[CopaceticOpus]

Hey, come on. Nullity is a perfectly cromulent number!

Re:Argh!!!

[grahams]

Imagine a Beow...[Error in universe.pl line 15x10^9: Division by zero]

No wonder the universe sucks, it's implemented in Perl!

Re:If only we'd had this 30 years ago.

[smellsofbikes]

My granddad had one of those.
I used to like to divide large numbers by 7. It would clank and chug and calculate so much that *smoke* would start coming out of it. How cool is THAT?
And then he stopped me using it because he kept having to get it fixed.

Re:Argh!!!

[hdparm]

I wouldn't consider it 'changed'. It's just screwed.

Re:Argh!!!

[Anomolous Cowturd]

And the current president... a dim bulb!

Moo

[Chacham]

Utter rubbish, as usual. Just like those idiotic programmers who start counting from zero.

Repeat after me: Zero is not a number. I didn't hear you, say it again.

Let's get this straight. A number is representative of a quantity.

Zero represent "nothing".
"Nothing" is not a quantity. It is, well...nothing.
Ergo, zero is not representative of a quantity, which means Zero is not a number.

Why is is so hard for people to understand that?

Anyway, math works with numbers, not programmers' fallacious ideas.

It's good that as a rule division by zero is not allowed. Adding this programmers' idea of division by zero would surely add a bug to the system. Yes, and some moron is bound to give us a patch, as this one just did. But guess what, it was wrong in the first place, and should be removed from any support whatsoever.

Re:Argh!!!

[$RANDOMLUSER]

And the corollary:

How many hardware engineers does it take to chage a light bulb?

None, we'll fix it in the driver.

Re:Argh!!!

[JohnFluxx]

Surely the conservative would replace the bulb quickly to put things back the way they are.

The liberal would seek to embrace the new darkness and accuse those who complain as non-pc conservatives who resist all change.

Re:Argh!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just in case anyone is interested in seeing the "proof":
Let a = b be any two numbers, then
=> a^2 = ab
=> a^2 - b^2 = ab - b^2
=> (a + b)(a - b) = b(a - b)
=> a + b = b
=> 2b = b
=> 2 = 1

Re:Argh!!!

[pointbeing]

How many computer programmers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Only two - but they have to be really small.

This guy's too late anyway!

[denebian devil]

My calculus class always used to divide by zero... just for very large values of zero.

Re:Basic math

[MouseR]

I'm not a mathetician, but as, in general, any number divided by itself is one (eg 1/1=1, 1234/1234=1, 0.5/0.5=1, etc) it would seem far more sensible if zero divided by zero was also 1.

If what you say is right then I can prove you that 1 = 2.

And that black is white and ... Oh! Zebras!

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[muellerr1]

That's a perfectly cromulent word you've got there.

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[Kingrames]

"What professor, after making a huge discovery, proceeds to teach it to children before presenting it at a seminar of his peers?"

One who... can't tell the difference?

Re:Argh!!!

[Garse Janacek]

No wonder the universe sucks, it's implemented in Perl!

Well, sure. "The Lord works in mysterious ways" -- that just means no one can understand God's code, right?

Wait... does that mean Larry Wall is.....?

Re:Argh!!!

[JabberWokky]

Whereas a Libertarian wouldn't change the bulb because it wasn't his, but he always carries his own flashlight just in case.

--
Evan

Re:Whoever modded this - get a grip!

[Anonymous Coward]

you are entirely correct. i believe the proper mod would have been 'enlightening'.

*crickets*

Re:Argh!!!

[aichpvee]

How many flies does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Two. But I don't know how the fuck they got in there!

Re:Argh!!!

[suggsjc]

It could bring a whole new meaning to being "turned on"

Re:Well, thats just nullty.

[Dachannien]

were deemed so useless when first conceived that they were called imaginary numbers

Those of us with an electrical engineering background prefer to call them jmaginary.

Re:Argh!!!

[246o1]

Perhaps the conservatives would hire 'scientists' to declare that the light bulb was still on, could never go out, even if it did go out it wouldn't affect us, and that nothing could be done about it anyway!

Re:Argh!!!

[__aaxwdb6741]

Q: How many rings does it take to change a light bulb?

A: One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
        One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

That's numberwang!

[asobala]

Yes, that's numberwang! [youtube.com]

Call for Papers

[toships]

My apologies if you are receiving multiple copies of this call for papers.

We invite new and innovative submissions for an upcoming symposium to discuss the novel concept of "nullity". "Nullity" was first proposed by Dr. Anderson when he was teaching schoolchildren in 2006A.D. (the actual inventor is still debated). However from that time onwards nullity has been used to prove many phenomenon in everyday life including debt reduction, break ups and even vasectomy. The manuscript should be novel and not published elsewhere. The area of interest includes but is not limited to:

Nullity in network design
Nullity chip design
Evolutionary nullity
Educating children on nullity
Nullity based algorithms

Please submit the above papers directly to Dr. Anderson at an.ders.on@__.__ (Please install the nullity plugging to display email address). The symposium will be held from 29-35 March 300G.E. on First Foundation.

Re:Argh!!!

[AutumnLeaf]

Conservatives would open a no-bid contract for Haliburton, pay the contract, but never verify the bulb was changed.

Re:Argh!!!

[CorSci81]

I can't hand you -1 oranges either.

No, but I can reach out my hand to bitchslap you and take your orange. Mathematically, you losing an orange (4-1) is equivalent to me giving you -1 oranges :)

Re:Argh!!!

[markh1967]

How many Microsoft programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?

None - their manager just declares darkness to be the new standard.

Re:Argh!!!

[mOdQuArK!]

That didn't make any sense - are you a liberal?

Re:Argh!!!

[camperdave]

Division by Zero is completely acceptable in the Electric Universe. In fact, the currents that power the spherical plasma discharges which we call the "Sun" and "stars" are where the MHD manifold divides by zero. The size of the star is related to the size of the zero by which the plasma field is divided.

Oh, by the way, I've got some beautiful beachfront property in the Florida Everglades that I need to sell (for tax reasons). I can let it go real cheap!

Re:Argh!!!

[mdf356]

How many Californians does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None. Californians screw in hot tubs, not light bulbs.

Cheers,
Matt

Re:Argh!!!

[StikyPad]

If you want me to say, "New standard?" text STKPD1.
If you want me to say, "Programmers use lights?" text STKPD2.
If you want me to say, "Linux developers subsequently start work on LINDOWS (Light is not a Darkness or Windows Simulator), then get sued for their choice of name," text STKPD3.
If you want me to say, "Ariba!" and dance around a sombrero, text STKPD4.

Re:Argh!!!

[tgrigsby]

Close. A conservative would declare that, according to the Bible, God create light and dark, and therefore the darkness was a sign from God that man had been arrogant to create light. He would then shake his fist and declare that the burning out of the light bulb proves that technology can't evolve, and that fire is an element God never intended for man to tame. Foaming at the mouth, he'd blame the fact that light bulbs came into existence on the gay agenda, screaming that the marriage of light bulb and the socket is a violation of nature, and he'd grab up his shotgun and run around the house shooting all the other light bulbs. Once they were gone, he'd see the street lights, blame them on the terrorists, and shoot them out as well. Running out of bullets, he'd take out a massive loan to pay for more artillery. Running from house to house, he'd shoot every light emitting device in the neighborhood, catching innocent men, women, and children in the crossfire. Soon, so in debt that he'd never be able to pay it off, he'd run out of bullets and stop.

Engulfed entirely in darkness, he'd finally wind down.

Then he'd start grumbling about the darkness, blaming it on the liberals.