3 ms·
Is this a contradiction on Wolfram Alpha?
Consider the two following inputs to Wolfram Alpha:
10(0/0)
and:
x(y/y) where x=10,y=0
The result of the first, as expected, is indeterminate:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10(0/0)
But the second is 10:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x(y/y)+where+x+%3D+10,+y+%3D+0
Is this a bug?
- Freebytes 17y agoYou put x(y/y) so if y is ever 0, it should be indeterminate, I believe. Both equations appear to equal the same thing which is indeterminate.
- teilo 17y agoLinks to those two queries: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10(0/0) http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10(0/0) http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x(y/y)+where+x+%3D+10,+y+%3D+0 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x(y/y)+where+x+%3D+10,+...
- RiderOfGiraffes 17y agoPragmatist engineers will say that y/y is always equal to 1, so x(y/y) will always equal x. Mathematicians will say that such reasoning has been known to lead to contradictory conclusions, and the form (y/y) is always equal to 1, except when y=0, inwhich case it is indeterminate. You need to choose which universe you live in, and how paranoid you have to be.
- teilo 17y agoSo Wolfram Alpha is erring on the side of the Engineers rather than the Mathematicians?
- JoeyS1980 17y agoDefinitely it is a bug in the Wolfram Alpha. Mathematically the correct answer is "Indeterminate" but parsing the statement in a computer science world, both results are correct. The statement "10(0/0)" requires no reduction of equation. The statement will translated into "10 * ( 0 / 0 )" but the statement "X(Y/Y)" it requires reduction of equation into "X" therefor all you need is the value of X.