"Division by Zero" is a
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
short story by American writer
Ted Chiang
Ted Chiang (; pinyin: ''Jiāng Fēngnán''; born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula Award, Nebula awards, four Hugo Award, Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus Award, ...
, initially published in 1991 in ''
Full Spectrum 3'' magazine and subsequently republished in the 2002 Ted Chiang collection ''
Stories of Your Life and Others
''Stories of Your Life and Others'' is a collection of short stories by American writer Ted Chiang published in 2002 by Tor Books. It collects Chiang's first eight stories. All of the stories except " Liking What You See: A Documentary" were pre ...
''.
Plot
Renee, an intellectually gifted mathematician and professor, inadvertently proves arithmetic
inconsistent
In deductive logic, a consistent theory is one that does not lead to a logical contradiction. A theory T is consistent if there is no formula \varphi such that both \varphi and its negation \lnot\varphi are elements of the set of consequences o ...
. The discovery causes her great mental anguish, as she can no longer find mathematics intuitively meaningful. Her husband, Carl, is initially sympathetic but finds himself unable to empathize. The stress of her discovery eventually drives Renee to attempt suicide, which Carl prevents. While Renee recovers in a psychiatric ward, Carl realizes he has fallen out of love with her and resolves to end their relationship. The story ends mid-conversation, wherein a grateful Renee, recently released from the ward, attempts to explain her breakdown to a somber Carl.
See also
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Division by zero
In mathematics, division by zero, division (mathematics), division where the divisor (denominator) is 0, zero, is a unique and problematic special case. Using fraction notation, the general example can be written as \tfrac a0, where a is the di ...
*
Infinity
Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol.
From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...
*
Luminous and
Dark Integers
"Dark Integers" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' in October/November 2007. The short story was included in the collections '' Dark Integers and Other Stories'' in 200 ...
, short stories by
Greg Egan
Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Lo ...
about an inconsistency in arithmetics
*
Zero
0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...
References
External links
Online text
1991 short stories
Science fiction short stories
Short stories by Ted Chiang
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