Dividing by zero?

[springrollman]

So.... you cannot divide by zero.

But say...you have 15 cookies to give to zero people. Would it not be that each person gets zero cookies? So....like....there'd be 15 cookies left.

So really, wouldn't 15 / 0 = 0 R 15?

No. No it isn't. I don't know. I just want someone to tell me why not.

Don't take this for real. Just some speculation on my part.....  

[QUANiiEE]

But if you're giving it to zero people, then basically (common sense), there is no point. LOL
Eh, it's confusing; just stick to the way you're taught in math. LOL  

[springrollman]

Well....Actually I asked the GD this question also. Bad idea. I haven't felt so good on Gaia since. But some of them gave really nice answers. Just....look for the posts I've posted. Seriously...I hate GD.....  

[sunnyxdaze]

<3

If there are zero people, you can't give anyone cookies. S:
So you'd be able to give zero people cookies...?

 

[HuoXingC]

The reason why dividing by zero is undefined is because you can't give "zero" amount of anything. "Giving zero" is basically contradicting itself, and therefore cannot be defined. i.e. I have teapot. I will give it to zero people. Doesn't that just mean I'm not giving it to anyone? Therefore, because I'm not giving it, dividing by zero is undefined.  

[jaecakes]

zomg this reminds me of rational functions.  

[PixieofDestruction]

Dividing is the same as multiplying. x(15)=0 is the same as 0 divided by 15... Its 0 or undefined because you can't multiply anything by 0 to make it equal 15.  

[springrollman]

Okies. Thank you all.

Agh. Sorry I haven't visited in a while.....  

[Prince Rilian]

15/0=x
if you multiply both sides by 0, you get 15=0*x. You can't multiply 0 by anything to get 15. There is no answer. It's undefined. Here's another way to look at it: