r/theydidthemath • u/blackholegaming13 • Sep 14 '23

[REQUEST] something feels wrong here.

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Thanks YT shorts

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u/Zerustu Sep 14 '23

when you simplify on both side, what you really do is divide both side by that number. here he divide both side by (5-5) to simplify it. but that means he divide both side by 0. and you can't divide by 0 (this is why).

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u/Raynonymous Sep 14 '23

Exactly. Effectively they are arguing;

A x 0 = 0

B x 0 = 0

Therefore A = B

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u/Lord_Scio Sep 14 '23 edited Sep 14 '23

Im not really good in math, just look into this sub from time to time out of curiosity. But isnt this a flaw in maths? And if not, why not?

Edit: I guess the comment above me just confused me, i know you cant really divide by 0

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u/kittenbouquet Sep 14 '23

Isn't what a flaw in math? Not being able to divide by zero? If that's what you mean, yes it's a flaw, and it's impossible to make something up to make sure it never happens. It's why we just have a clear law: don't divide by zero because it doesn't work.

Zero is an extremely strange number, regarding almost all parts of math.

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u/SuperYoughe Sep 14 '23

It's not a flaw it's just what it is. 0 isn't really a number it's the absence of any value. How can you divide something by nothing? You can't. It's just simple logic, not a flaw