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Divide by zero

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abyaly:
Houshalter, all of the numbers are made up. Zero is just as much of a number as any of the others.

Also, you are philosophizing over the "correct" meaning of the word "number". There is no such thing as a "correct" meaning to a word. As with any word, its meaning comes from the intent of the people using it in conversation. For two people to have a meaningful conversation about X, they first agree on what they both want X to mean, and then they say things about it. If this isn't done, you end up in a situation where person A is attempting to say one thing and person B is interpreting it as something else.

ashton15:
But surely it doesn't matter wether I intrpret that the Earth is really an orange as to wether that fact is true or false and likewise if the interpretaions of imaginary numbers has been defined the way they are you can't just understand them to be something which is ilogical and expect it to be true whilst fitting in with the original interpretation. Thus if I create the intrepretation is a purple gurble then the intrepretaion of a gurble bieng orange would not fit the current intrepetation and would therefore be false, though if one said the gurble had tremendously big eyes in conjuction with a fondness of striped ties then they could be true or flase depending on there proof and then again it may be possible for the gurble to be orange if one were to weave through the intrepetaion and justify that the gurble was not purple so he may be another colour or striped purple and orange but wouldn't it be a shame if our gurble was not purple? Woot! Crappy rhyming and some nonsense philosphy at the same time

abyaly:
Assigning meaning to a word is not the same thing as ascribing a property to an object.

ashton15:

--- Quote from: abyaly ---Assigning meaning to a word is not the same thing as ascribing a property to an object.
--- End quote ---

What's the diffrence?

bacillus:
There's a proof by somebody whose name eludes me at this moment that states that if mathematics is without contradictions, then it is contradictory itself. Don't ask me how it works, but I thought this would be the best time to bring it up.

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