1/infinity

[AwesomeMcCoolName]

So essentially, 

 

Me: Uh...it's not actually zero since it never reaches zero.  

Math: Pfft...well....it's close enough.  You can't even tell. 

 

right? 

Yes. 

[∞Ramses]

So essentially, 

 

Me: Uh...it's not actually zero since it never reaches zero.  

Math: Pfft...well....it's close enough.  You can't even tell. 

 

right? 

 

It reaches zero when it's infinite.

But you can't "see" infinite as a number. 

[BQE]

It reaches zero when it's infinite.

But you can't "see" infinite as a number. 

 

x never reaches infinite, thus the expression "1/x as x -> infinite" never reaches zero.   Furthermore, if A/B = C, then C*B = A, and if A/B = 0, then 0*B = A, which is ridiculous and false. true for A or B = 0

[puddingkip]

Yes. No. Maths. It's fucking summer break nerds

[Julia Gillard the Honest]

Furthermore, if A/B = C, then C*B = A, and if A/B = 0, then 0*B = A, which is ridiculous and false. true for A or B = 0

 

If A, B and C are real numbers and A/B = C and this is not equal to zero, then C*B = A. If A/B = 0 then A = 0, so it's definitely then true that A = 0*B = 0.

 

As for the limit, it doesn't have anything to do with "infinite" numbers itself. We use the symbol (I'll denote it by "oo" here) purely as a notational convenience. If f(x) is some function of x where x varies across the whole real line, then we write lim_x->oof(x) = a if, and only if, a is some real number where for any e > 0, there is some real number y such that if x > y then |f(x)-a| < e. In other words, we say that the limit (as x approaches infinity) of f(x) is a if for any positive distance, you can take x large enough so that f(x) and a become closer together than the given distance.

[BQE]

So it's limit can be zero even if it never reaches zero?  

[~shenanigans]

So it's limit can be zero even if it never reaches zero?  

 

Yes. The limit is the theoretical value it would become, if infinity actually existed. Realistically, one divided by any number (no matter how large) is not zero.

 

It's like the temperature absolute zero, it is theoretically the lowest temperature possible, but has never been demonstrated, since any practical attempt at taking a temperature requires it to be above absolute zero.