Re: Impossible for a number multiplied by zero to equal zero

On Oct 14, 5:27 am, Phantom scojocupcake <bo...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 14 Oct, 11:23, Phantom scojocupcake <bo...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Well, that's correct, when you come to realize that 0 isn't nothing."

With respect, that's absurd.

I don't think there's any point going on with this discussion when
people believe 0 isn't nothing.

I'm not good at math(s) - but even I know zero is nothing. To suggest
zero isn't nothing is madness.

By the way, if zero isn't nothing, what value does it possess?  

When you say "it", are you refering to 0 or to nothing?

The value of 0 is 0.

"Nothing" is a poor word choice as it is commonly used
as a synonym for 0. But you used it interchangeably with
"void", which is not exactly the same thing. As I pointed
out, NULL is a non-ambiguous term that behaves somewhat like
your stupid notion of multiplication: 4 books * NULL = NULL.
That's the only way you can make any sense of this, by taking
"void" to be NULL and stop saying "nothing" when you mean 0.

Think of it as a number whose value exists, but is unknown.
Then you'll understand it's behaviour. If I have 4 books
and remove an unknown number of them, how many are left?
Answer: unknown, because 4-NULL=NULL.

If I have 3 widgets in stock and I receive a UPS shipment
of new widgets but don't open the box, then how many do
I have on hand? Is it likely the box contains nothing?
If so, why would they go to the expense of shipping an
empty box? The box contains an unknown number that isn't
0, so we have an unknown number on hand.

It's
not a plus number and it's not a minus number so what value is it?

0. Your problem is you keep saying 0 isn't a number when it is.
If you want to do math with unknowns, fine, there are consistent
rules for that. It's just that 0 isn't an unknown, so those
rules don't apply.


(can't wait to hear the answer to this lol!)

Why? This concept works fine in SQL databases, results are
consistent, although they may be not what you want, but there's
nothing that can be done about that.

.

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