06-07-2006, 12:29 AM
Quote:Nope. It's an asymptote. Graph y=1/x, and notice that there is no value for x=0. x=.00001 is big, x=.000000000000000001 is even bigger, but x=0 is undefined. It's a mathematical rule, that division by zero is undefined.Why do you think x=0 is undefined? Obviously because it would be infinitely big that you couldn't graph it! But go ahead and trust whatever your graphing program says.
For instance, when talking about slopes, 1/0 would be considered undefined. Why? Because there is no Y intersection taking place to define the slope on; it is virtually a vertical line with an infinite slope, which really is what a vertical line is: no matter where you are on the Y, the X will always be the same. It's inverse, 0/1, is a perfectly straight horizontal line, which is no surprise (because they are opposites -> zero & infinity, 1/0 & 0/1, horizontal & vertical).
Anyway, infinity is really more of a concept rather than a number, but so is zero if you think about it.