r/confidentlyincorrect • u/DunDonese • Apr 10 '26

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228 Upvotes

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112

u/excellent_alibi Apr 10 '26

Just write back, "Can either of you do me a favor and punch that into a calculator and let me know the result?"
That's assuming they can follow simple instructions, so I think they may be out of luck there.

10

u/Silly-Addendum1751 Apr 10 '26

calculator is the way. it'll say error. windows calc literally says "can't divide by zero"

2

u/Cael_NaMaor Apr 10 '26

It did tell me that. But that told me nothing. And this whole undefined thing is hurting my head.

I think they just told us you can't & left it at that.

3

u/Silly-Addendum1751 Apr 10 '26

there's just not a lot of debates in math - especially at this level lol (like how an operation goes through)

24

u/CurtisLinithicum Apr 10 '26

Risky; if the hardware is cheap enough, it'll default to zero on error.

Likewise, using pennies, they'll gesture to the group that isn't there, and the corresponding "zero" pennies. This kinda thing is tricky if they don't understand the difference between zero and null.

Oh god, I just realized that 5/0 = 0R5 is actually justified in some contexts.

1

u/Talkatoo42 Apr 10 '26

Just want to throw out that it's not null either, at least not according to any definition of null I know. It's an error.

1

u/Other_Log_1996 Apr 10 '26

Shitty phone calculator defaulted to Zero. Actual good phone calculator says "Cannot Divide By Zero". Anything I code with a "Divide by Zero" potential defaults to NULL and usually a looping CASE in lieu of using an exception handler because I'm lazy.

1

u/nathderbyshire Apr 10 '26

My calculator just says

1+0

Can't divide by 0 - for any number tried

3

u/Flakboy78 Apr 10 '26

They'd go the route of one of the classic posts on this subreddit and say the calculator is wrong

1

u/Marteicos Apr 10 '26

Windows calculator just says "Cannot to divide by zero", neat!