Why Dividing by Zero is Undefined?

Students tend to hear one thing copiously, which is that “you can never divide a number by zero.” And once they enter high school, they hear the phrase “a number divided by zero yields an undefined result.” almost daily.

Ali
5 min readApr 10, 2023

In the world of mathematics, every operation and its result has a very rational explanation because mathematics is built upon a foundation of very simple and essentially bulletproof principles. If we change some of these principles, we end up with an outcome where the rock-solid foundation of mathematics undergoes intriguing metamorphoses.

Many students relearn the same principles over and over again during their mathematical education. However, they tend to hear one thing copiously, which is that “you can never divide a number by zero.” And once they enter high school, they hear the phrase “a number divided by zero yields an undefined result.” almost daily.

It seems like someone tried to divide by zero around Lake Berryessa, California. | Source

Though dividing a number by zero seems very basic at the onset, it does not work that way. Suppose we are to ponder over the concept for a moment. In…

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Ali

Math Teacher. Content Curator. Soccer player. Maradona fan. Mostly write about the lectures I love to learn better. alikayaspor@gmail.com