Re: Re: What is zero divided by zero anyway?

Think of it another way.

my $value = get_numeric_value_from_somewhere();
print 'Will always be printed' if ($value/$value) == 1;
# Except for zero!!
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the above is true, for 1/1; -1/-1; .1/.1; -.1/-.1; etc. etc. all the way down to the smallest values on either side of zero that any given machine can represent.

Out of interest, after I posted I did a quick google on the net and discovered that at least one computer langauge treats 0/0 as 1. Namely APL, which as its a language essentially designed for mathematical problem solving, at least makes me feel a little better regarding the notion, even if ultimately 0/0=1 isn't correct in the pure math sense.

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Re: Re: Re: What is zero divided by zero anyway? by John M. Dlugosz (Monsignor) on Oct 11, 2002 at 18:45 UTC
Think of it another way. `my $value= get_numeric_value_from_somewhere(); eval { print 'Will never be printed' if ($value/0) } # except for zero, you want?!` [download] The result is true for .1/0, .0001/0, etc. etc. all the way down to the smallest values on either side of zero that any given machine can represent. Why should it be different for zero itself?	[reply] [d/l]