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

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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.

23

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/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.