Divide by Zero: Difference between revisions

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** And let's not forget the effect of the first Glass Clock in ''[[Thief of Time]]'', which [[Time Crash|shattered the whole of recorded history]]. The History Monks just about managed to patch it back together again, leaving behind only a couple of [[Plot Hole|plot holes]].
* Ted Chiang's ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130115121005/http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/i/division/ Division By Zero]'' uses this as an analogy for the central mathematical conceit of the plot.
* In one of the dialogues from ''[[Godel Escher Bach|Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'', Achilles is granted permission by [[God]] to make one infinite-level Typeless Wish. He says, "I wish my wish would not be granted!" After this [[Logic Bomb]] goes off in a way that "cannot possibly be described, and so no attempt will be made to describe it", Achilles and the Tortoise find themselves in a totally unfamiliar environment. Achilles asks, "Did the earth come to a standstill? Did the universe cave in?" The Tortoise explains that they were [[Inside a Computer System|inside "The System"]] and the paradoxical wish crashed it: "I'm sorry, Achilles--you blew it. You crashed the System, and you should thank our lucky stars that we're back at all. Things could have come out a lot worse."
* In ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Life, The Universe And Everything|Life, The Universe And Everything]]'', Arthur finds out that if anyone ever simultaneously knows both the answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything ''and'' what that question is, the entirety of existence would cease to exist and be replaced with something even stranger. It's also stated that this may already have happened.
* In Aldous Huxley's ''Point Counter Point'' (1928), a [[Upper Class Twit|dilettante marquess]] is attempting to mathematically prove the existence of God:
{{quote|"You know the formula, ''m'' over nought equals infinity, ''m'' being any positive number? Well, why not reduce the equation to a simpler form by multiplying both sides by nought? In which case you have ''m'' equals infinity times nought. That is to say that a positive number is the product of zero and infinity. Doesn't that demonstrate the creation of the universe by an infinite power out of nothing? Doesn't it?"