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Sept 2009Why is the correct view of zero so important?As we have shown in The Two Faces Of Zero and the accompanying blog articles, our interpretation of the humble zero decides:
Many of the Big Issues in physics are based around division by zero. We commonly apply the rules of ordinal "real" numbers to zero. This is ok when using zero as an ordinal value, but not for physical quantities or any other non-ordinal use of zero. Using the "null" or "nothing" view of zero, all these issues literally disappear as they are merely the result of a mathematical error. Using the view that zero is not a number, or the absence of any value, then 1 / 0 = 0. There is no number to divide by, so the result is not a number. We take it for granted that zero is always a number. We have been trained to do so since childhood. However as we observe on the number line, there are times we use it as a one-dimensional number and others when we use it as a zero-dimensional number. The rules for 0- and 1-dimensional values are not the same, just as the rules for 2-dimensional values, such as (x, y) coordinates are not exactly the same as for a 1-dimensional number. Some of the big problems in physics arise from such simple misunderstandings and mathematical errors.
Regards, AJ Corcoran
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