Division by Zero/Historical Note

Historical Note on Division by Zero

Brahmagupta stated that:

positive or negative divided by cipher is a fraction with that for denominator.

This was then referred to as quantity with zero as denominator.


Mahaviracharya writes in Ganita Sara Samgraha of c. $850$ CE:

A number multiplied by zero is zero and that number remains unchanged which is divided by, added to or diminished by zero.

which is of course seriously questionable.


Sources

  • 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): $0$ Zero
  • 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $0$ Zero
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