NaN is meant to represent a non-sensical mathematical operation (like divide by 0). One non-sensical mathematical operation is not the same as some other non-sensical mathematical operation (1/0 !== Infinity/Infinity)
>NaN is meant to represent a non-sensical mathematical operation
This is not a very good explanation. NaN is used to represent a nonsensical value. By your explanation (1/0 === 1/0) should be true since they represent the same invalid opperation. The fact that NaN != NaN is not meant to mean anything, it is merely defined that way to prevent a class of bugs from occurring. Anyone not familiar with the definition is correct to be confused by it. I'd think if the spec was designed today, this special case (hack) wouldn't be there and we'd have exceptions in its place.