The other comments are correct: is undefined. Similarly, the limit of as approaches is also undefined. However, if you take the limit of as approaches zero from the left or from the right, you get negative and positive infinity respectively.

Answer from Ethan Brown on Stack Exchange
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnmath › why do we say 1/0=undefined instead of 1/0=infinity?
r/learnmath on Reddit: Why do we say 1/0=undefined instead of 1/0=infinity?
October 24, 2020 -

Like 10/2- imagine a 10 square foot box, saying 10 divided by 2 is like saying “how many 2 square foot boxes fit in this 10 square foot box?” So the answer is 5.

But if you take the same box and ask “how many boxes that are infinitely small, or zero feet squared, can fit in the same box the answer would be infinity not “undefined”. So 10/0=infinity.

I understand why 2/0 can’t be 0 not only because that doesn’t make and since but also because it could cause terrible contradictions like 1=2 and such.

Ah math is so cool. I love infinity so if anyone wants to talk about it drop a comment.

Edit: thanks everyone so much for the answers. Keep leaving comments though because I’m really enjoying seeing it explained in different ways. Also it doesn’t seem like anyone else has ever been confused by this judging by the comment but if anyone is I really liked this video https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/x2f8bb11595b61c86:foundation-algebra/x2f8bb11595b61c86:division-zero/v/why-dividing-by-zero-is-undefined

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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Division_by_zero
Division by zero - Wikipedia
1 week ago - When a real function can be expressed as a fraction whose denominator tends to zero, the output of the function becomes arbitrarily large, and is said to "tend to infinity", a type of mathematical singularity.
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YouTube
youtube.com › watch
1/0 = infinite is explained | Breaking the rules of Mathematics. - YouTube
Have you ever wondered why 1 divided by 0 equals infinity? In this video, we will explain the reasoning behind this common mathematical phenomenon.In general...
Published   March 19, 2023
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Medium
prabhatmahato.medium.com › why-is-any-number-over-0-undefined-or-what-we-say-infinity-5318dc5b0153
Why is any number over 0 undefined or what we say infinity? | by Prabhat Mahato | Medium
March 31, 2023 - Example: 15/5=3 which means subtracting 5 thrice from 15 to get 0. i.e, 15–5–5–5=0 · But let’s check in case of 1/0. According to the above shown theory of division, we need to find the amount of times we need to subtract 0 from 1. i.e.,1/0=1–0–0–0–0–0–0-…………….. Uh Oh, it looks like this will keep going on forever (infinite times) but still we won’t know how much 0’s are required to be subtracted from 1 for the result to be 0.
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Quora
quora.com › Why-do-some-people-say-that-1-0-is-undefined-while-other-people-say-it-is-infinity-Which-side-of-this-endless-debate-is-right
Why do some people say that 1/0 is undefined while other people say it is infinity? Which side of this endless debate is right? - Quora
So, why don’t we just use the projectively extended reals everywhere, in place of the normal reals with no infinite values? Let’s look at just one problem: Is this new number ∞ bigger than all the real numbers? Well, sure: 1/1 > 1/10 > 1/100 > 1/1000 > … > 0, so take the reciprocals and turn the <s around and 1 < 10 < 100 < 1000 < … < ∞, right? But what about negative numbers? -1/1 < -1/10 < -1/100 < -1/1000 < … < 0. Do the same thing, and -1 > -10 > -100 > -1000 > ∞. Oops. If ∞ means 1/0, then ∞ is bigger than all the real numbers, but also smaller than all the real numbers!
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Zero_one_infinity_rule
Zero one infinity rule - Wikipedia
December 1, 2024 - The Zero one infinity (ZOI) rule is a rule of thumb in software design proposed by early computing pioneer Willem van der Poel. It argues that arbitrary limits on the number of instances of a particular type of data or structure should not be allowed. Instead, an entity should either be forbidden ...
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Quora
quora.com › Is-1-0-infinity
Is 1/0 infinity? - Quora
However, if one were to take the limit of 1/x as x approaches 0 from the positive end, it would tend to positive infinity. Going from the negative end, it would be negative infinity. This is what is meant by 1/0 being equal to infinity.
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Physics Forums
physicsforums.com › mathematics › general math
Disputing 1 / 0 = Infinity: Agree or Disagree? • Physics Forums
January 11, 2024 - There are an infinite amount of zero's that can go into 1, therefore we can say 1 / 0 = infinity, but it is useless to say that because infinity isn't a number. That is why we say the answer is undefined.
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Sololearn
sololearn.com › en › Discuss › 1577408 › why-1-0-infinity
Why 1 / 0 = infinity? | Sololearn: Learn to code for FREE!
1/0.1 = 10 1/0.01 = 100 1/0.001 = 1000 1/0.000..01 = extremely big And since a computer cannot represent ifinitely many digits, 0.000...01 is basically zero and similar the extremely big number is "infinity"
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Narkive
mathematics.science.narkive.com › kErfp69Q › why-1-0-is-infinity-please-prove
Why 1/0 is infinity ???????? Please prove?
Then... 1/0 = infinite "infinitesimal value"/ one "infinitesimal value", "Infinitesimal value" of both a-numerator and a- dinominator are same and so they give a result '1', which means we cancell both.
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Math Central
mathcentral.uregina.ca › qq › database › qq.02.06 › evan1.html
1/infinity and 1/0
Question: I was thinking the other day when i was in math class that when you divide 1 by say n you'll get 1/n. As the value of n increases the smaller the number you get. So if you divide 1/infinity would that equal zero? And if that is true then would 1/0=infinity be true also · Your observation ...
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Physics Forums
physicsforums.com › mathematics › calculus
Why 1 / ∞ = 0 but ∞ * 0 is not equal to 1? • Physics Forums
December 20, 2021 - If you multiply that infinitely ... you an equality, 1. ... 1/infinity tends to zero, but only tends, which mean it's not completely 0, there is still some infinitely small value left to it....
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The Hindu
thehindu.com › opinion › letters › infinity-undefined › article3863329.ece
Infinity & undefined - The Hindu
September 5, 2012 - Thus 1/0 is not infinity and 0/0 is not indeterminate, since division by zero is not defined.
Top answer
1 of 3
82

It's a nonsense from the mathematical perspective.

Yes. No. Sort of.

The thing is: Floating-point numbers are approximations. You want to use a wide range of exponents and a limited number of digits and get results which are not completely wrong. :)

The idea behind IEEE-754 is that every operation could trigger "traps" which indicate possible problems. They are

  • Illegal (senseless operation like sqrt of negative number)
  • Overflow (too big)
  • Underflow (too small)
  • Division by zero (The thing you do not like)
  • Inexact (This operation may give you wrong results because you are losing precision)

Now many people like scientists and engineers do not want to be bothered with writing trap routines. So Kahan, the inventor of IEEE-754, decided that every operation should also return a sensible default value if no trap routines exist.

They are

  • NaN for illegal values
  • signed infinities for Overflow
  • signed zeroes for Underflow
  • NaN for indeterminate results (0/0) and infinities for (x/0 x != 0)
  • normal operation result for Inexact

The thing is that in 99% of all cases zeroes are caused by underflow and therefore in 99% of all times Infinity is "correct" even if wrong from a mathematical perspective.

2 of 3
12

In mathematics, division by zero is undefined because zero has no sign, therefore two results are equally possible, and exclusive: negative infinity or positive infinity (but not both).

In (most) computing, 0.0 has a sign. Therefore we know what direction we are approaching from, and what sign infinity would have. This is especially true when 0.0 represents a non-zero value too small to be expressed by the system, as it frequently the case.

The only time NaN would be appropriate is if the system knows with certainty that the denominator is truly, exactly zero. And it can't unless there is a special way to designate that, which would add overhead.

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Ubqt
ubqt.vc › p › 0-1-and-infinity-the-only-three-numbers
0, 1, and ∞ (Infinity): The Only Three Numbers That Matter to Entrepreneurs and Astronomers
February 22, 2023 - INFINITY: Soon we found a second, then a third, and now we know that black holes are everywhere! There is now strong evidence that they are at the center of virtually ALL large galaxies. We’ve moved from wondering if any are out there (0), to spotting our own galaxy’s black hole (1), to now knowing that the number of black holes is infinite!