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Re: multiplicative inverse of 0.0 Bakul Shah 22 Oct 2005 21:52 UTC

>  | (/ 0.0)                                ==>  +nan.0
>  | (/ 1.0 0)                              ==>  +inf.0
>  | (/ -1 0.0)                             ==>  -inf.0
>  | (/ +inf.0)                             ==>  0.0
>
> If 0.0 is the multiplicative inverse of +inf.0, then +inf.0 must be
> multiplicative inverse of 0.0.  But (/ 0.0) ==> +nan.0.  Which line is
> correct?

By definition, if A' is a multiplicate inverse of A,
    A * A' = 1
This is not the case for +inf.0 or 0.0.

So we have two choices:

1)
    (/ 0.0) => NaN
    (/ +inf.0) => NaN
    (/ -inf.0) => NaN

2) To indicate that for any number X
	(/ X) == (/ 1.0 X)
   and drop the phrases "multiplicative inverse".