"why is it a rule ?"
"because the rest of arithmetic won't work otherwise . you just have to accept it ."
"i thought math was supposed to be logical ."
"it is ."
"then how come multiplying by nothing wipes out a number ?"
"talk to me after class ."
mr .pell went back to the blackboard after the bell rang and the rest of the class ran out . he was awfully young to be a teacher . elliott 's father said mr. pell had been a PE major , but he'd minored inmath and the school m=needed a math teacher more than a coach . he wore a bow tie and a short sleeved blue shirt . he lookked like eddie murphy , but without the funny stuff .
" look , division is based on multiplication , right ? twelve divide by zero equals x . then zero times x equals zero , you already know that ."
"but why ?"
"because ," mr. pell said ." it works . a million math operations say it's true . let's look ay=t it this way . let's take nine divided by three . if you have ninerocks , you can like on mars .
"so let's look at nine divided bu=y zero . how many groups of zero can you separate nine rocks into ?" mr. pell smiled ." you see ? yu can't have a group made of nothing . it just doesn't make sense ."
"that's an artifact of your definition ." elliott told him .
mr .pell dropped his chalk ." who talk you that ?"
"it's logic ."
"because the rest of arithmetic won't work otherwise . you just have to accept it ."
"i thought math was supposed to be logical ."
"it is ."
"then how come multiplying by nothing wipes out a number ?"
"talk to me after class ."
mr .pell went back to the blackboard after the bell rang and the rest of the class ran out . he was awfully young to be a teacher . elliott 's father said mr. pell had been a PE major , but he'd minored inmath and the school m=needed a math teacher more than a coach . he wore a bow tie and a short sleeved blue shirt . he lookked like eddie murphy , but without the funny stuff .
" look , division is based on multiplication , right ? twelve divide by zero equals x . then zero times x equals zero , you already know that ."
"but why ?"
"because ," mr. pell said ." it works . a million math operations say it's true . let's look ay=t it this way . let's take nine divided by three . if you have ninerocks , you can like on mars .
"so let's look at nine divided bu=y zero . how many groups of zero can you separate nine rocks into ?" mr. pell smiled ." you see ? yu can't have a group made of nothing . it just doesn't make sense ."
"that's an artifact of your definition ." elliott told him .
mr .pell dropped his chalk ." who talk you that ?"
"it's logic ."
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