[NBLUG/talk] The Romans' ban on zero

[mrp]

On Thu, May 29, 2003 at 11:52:21AM -0700, augie wrote:
> yah. infinity is not a number so a better way to say the above would be:
> 
> as n approaches 0 the function 1/n approaches infinity.

Another nitpicky distinction:
As n approaches 0 from the POSITIVE direction, 1/n goes to infinity, 
as n approaches 0 from the NEGATIVE direction, 1/n goes to -infinity.

Which is why lim{n->0} of 1/n isn't defined... it doesn't convertge on
a single value.

lim{n->0} of 1/n^2 is infinity, no matter which way you appoach it
(on the real axis anyway... in Physics class (graduate E&M)  you can
approach it from the imaginary direction, in which case it no longer
converges. This is why it's called a second order pole in the complex
plane.  There Jenn, now we're tied it to physics. :-)

  -- Mitch