Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by inglor_cz 327 days ago
Yeah, I studied mathematics (algebra and number theory) and zero is the point, often sporting discontinuities, or weird asymptotic behavior.

Quite a lot of algorithms use some form of division and zero is the only number in our typical structures (Z, Q, R, C), that cannot be used to divide with.

2 comments

In machine integer arithmetics, one must also beware division by -1, which can convert MIN_INT into MIN_INT with a signed overflow and violate some arithmetics invariants, such as sign (negative divided by negative is _usually_ positive).
Well, now in this brave new age of AI we can enjoy computer programs crashing with an

    Error: division by please upvote, share and like!
This also works; I upvoted your comment.
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of how to smash that like and subscribe button, which this comment box is too small to contain.
Signed by Pierre de FermAIt
NaN