In
mathematics,
division by zero is
division where the divisor (denominator) is
zero. Such a division can be formally
expressed as
a / 0 where
a is the dividend (numerator). Whether this
expression can be assigned a
well-defined value depends upon the mathematical setting. In ordinary (
real number) arithmetic, the expression has no meaning, as there is no number which, multiplied by 0, gives
a (
a≠0), and so division by zero is
undefined. Historically, one of the earliest recorded references to the mathematical impossibility of assigning a value to
a / 0 is contained in
George Berkeley's criticism of
infinitesimal calculus in
The Analyst ("ghosts of departed quantities").[SUP][
citation needed][/SUP]
In
computer programming, an attempt to divide a floating point number by zero will lead to +-infinity by the
IEEE 754 floating point standard, however, depending on the programming language and the type of number (e.g. integer) being divided by zero, it may: generate an exception, generate an error message, crash the program being executed, generate either positive or negative infinity, or could result in a special
not-a-number value.
source wpedia.