Re: Division by zero

Nicolas, et al.:

In looking into how to store information more generally, I came up with
a method that treats numbers in a way that solves the division by 0
problem and a number of other problems as well. The method has two
atomic elements of information: an item and a directional association
between two items. A number is stored as a sign and a count that are
each an independent attribute of an association. These two attributes
specify how many times one item is included in or excluded from another
item. Given this interpretation of a directional association with a
sign&count, count is 1, 2, etc, but not zero. (A count of zero would
specify the absence of an association, which is specified by not
specifying it in the first place.) Since zero is not a count, it
cannot be a divisor. In this method, zero is in effect the combination
of the plus sign and the minus sign, expressed as (+,-) so that the
combination of +2 and -2, expressed as (+2, -2), reduces to (+,-)2
since sign and count are independent.

This method of storing a number is introduced in the second of two
papers currently posted at www.varadata.com/papers.html. (These papers
were written to describe the application of this method to databases
rather than mathematics.) I have investigated this method for storing
numbers beyond what is written in the referenced papers, and have found
it to be remarkablely useful and robust.

Let me know if you have any thoughts regarding the referenced papers or
there is interest in discussing this method further.

John Grisinger

.

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