A nice math riddle, try to solve it.
Hello...
Believe it or not, but it seems like I can prove you that 2=1.
Look how:
a=b /Multiply both sides by a
a²=ab /Add to both sides (a²-2ab)
a²+a²-2ab=ab+a²-2ab
2a²-2ab=a²-ab
2(a²-ab)=a²-ab
2=1
Of course there is a mistake here, find it.
Good Luck!
Honest: 0 / 0 not defined.
Girls & guys, 0 / 0 being undefined is a well established concept. Division is defined as the inverse of multiplication, although it does not have to be as long as the definitions are consistent with the following.
A * B = C implies C / A = B and vice versa.
Applying the above to 0 / 0 = X implies that X * 0 = 0
Any finite value of X will satisfy X * 0 = 0 implying that any finite value can be assigned to the quotient 0/0. Hence 0/0 has no specific defined value.
In some circumstances, 0 / 0 is assigned a value to be consistent with previous analysis. Consider the following trivial situation.
Assume that Y = (3 * X^2 + B) / (4 * X^2 + B) has been shown to be the result of some analysis.
For B = 0 and X = 0, Y = 0 / 0, which in this case would be treated as 3 /4.
This done because for B = 0, Y = 3 / 4 for all values other than X = 0 It would seem strange to claim that when B = 0, then Y = 3 / 4 for all values of X, except for X = zero, in which case it might be something else.
It is also defined that way for more complex reasons, namely the following.
If Y = FunctionA( X) / FunctionB( X), and both functions equal zero (or infinity) for some value of X, Y is defined as DerivativeA( X ) / DerivativeB( X ).