[QUOTE]Originally posted by magician
[B]

Not only does zero "count" as an even number, zero is an even number.

 

0/2 = 0!

No?

Every number is divisble by 2, but only even numbers result in an integer. 0 is an integer.

 

Damn Aus..... stop helping him , I am trying to start an argument here

 

I'm not sure what difference you percieve between being divisible by 2 and being a multiple of 2, but it's a figment of your (finely honed) imagination. Writing 0 = 2 * 0 shows that 0 is a multiple of zero; writing 0 / 2 = 0 shows that 0 is divisible by 2. These equations are equivalent.

The next time you come across a book on number theory, take a peek at how it defines divisibility. It'll say that M is divisible by N means that there is an integer K such that M = N * K; i.e., M is a multiple of N.

By the way, you've hit the crux of the mathematical analysis of the cat door: when the cat ends up on the same side of the door as it starts you cannot be certain that went through the door (it might have used it zero times); when it ends up on the other side you are certain that it used the door at least once.

 

Unless you insist that the result is an integer, the idea of divisibility is meaningless: everything is divisible by everything except zero.

The mathematical definition of divisibility requires that the result is an integer; indeed, that's the point.

tokyo_james: this is weird; now I'm helping you.

Sometimes you just can't start an argument no matter how unreasonable you act!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by magician
[B]Unless you insist that the result is an integer, the idea of divisibility is meaningless:

 

ROFLMAO

 

Please don't lay that one at my doorstep: nobody asked me.

In the early '80s there was tons of talk about switching to the metric system, with people arguing that we would have cereal boxes with 483.916 grams of Corn Flakes and so on. Morons! I was of the opinion (and told me math students at the time) that we should change everything in one fell swoop, overnight. The next day the country would awaken and there would would be that brief instant of panic. Until, that is, they figured out that it still takes 40 minutes to drive to work, the roadsigns notwithstanding, that it still takes $10 to fill the gas tank (early '80s, remember!), and that an adjustable-end wrench still rounds off the corners of every size nut you need to remove.

The prevailing opinion was (and, perhaps, still is) that the transition should take place gradually. This strikes me as the same sort of logic that would lead to the conclusion that you should receive a cortisone shot by inserting the needle very slowly, to spread the discomfort over a longer period of time. Idiots!

As for fractions and decimals, 2/3 = 0.66666666... doesn't bother me a bit, but 2 isn't divisible by 3. To borrow your theme, I'd have thought that even in Australia you've heard of number theory. It's been around a while.

(No offense intended; it's all in good fun, c'est vrai? )

 

No 0/2 Does not = 0!

0!=1

Just thought I'd be an a$$

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by magician
[B]

Please don't lay that one at my doorstep: