Verified answer

To answer your question, let's do a reverse operation.

2 = 10 / 5 ....... right?

and 2 * 5 = 10 (notice 2 is multiplied by the denominator to get the numerator)

Now, let's consider:

X = 12 / 0....... What number for X when multiplied by zero will give you 12? It is impossible. This is why you can not divide by zero.

Think of what happens as you divide by smaller and smaller numbers... the answer gets larger. If you continue this, approaching zero, you will see the solution shoots upward, approaching infinity. Therefore, you can technically divide by zero, but you will get the same answer, which is a non-number (+/- infinity) regardless of the numerator's magnitude. The only way to divide by zero and get a real answer is to be Chuck Norris.

You can divide by numbers getting as close to zero as you like. But you can't divide by zero because there is no number to assign to te quotient. The result would be infinity which is not a number.

its not nothing going into something.....that is 0 divided by some number...that answer is zero

dividing by zero is basically saying how many times can something go into nothing....that scenario isn't possible...hence the error

Ok think about it this way. say you have 10 jelly beans.. you can divide them into 2 groups of 5. But then the teacher asks you to divide them into zero groups. Then you say uuuuuuhhh WHAT?

you're missing how "nothing" can also go into something Infinite times.

How much nothing can you fit in your pockets? All the nothing you want.

It's a faulty question. Like "How many slices of toast does it take to build a fighter jet?" All the toast in the world would not build you a fighter jet, so it's not a valid question.

Go here: http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.divideby0.htm...

He explains it out pretty simply in a few different ways.

0 is not really a number. It is more of a state of existence. Like white is not really a color, yet an absence of color.