Finding value when divider equals $0$

Asked Jan 12 '21 at 22:03

Active Feb 23 '21 at 15:00

Viewed 67 times

I'm having trouble calculating the result of an equation.

The equation consist of:

$$n = \frac{(y - z)}{(b - a)}$$

I'm attempting to find $n$ when I have all of the other values.

In some of my calculations, $b - a = 0$, which means that I end up with something like:

$$n = \frac{(y - z)}{0}$$

This obviously doesn't work.

In these situations, is there a way of finding $n$ knowing $a$, $b$, $y$ and $z$?

Addendum

I also have a related equation:

$$b = \frac{(y + u \cdot p)}{n}$$ $$a = \frac{(z + u \cdot p)}{n}$$

I have the value for $u$ but not $p$ (so $p$ and $n$ are unknowns).

Response to comment about value of $y$ and $z$

To clarify, in my situation $y \ne z$ even when $a - b = 0$, so the problem remains and is not $0 / 0$.

edited Feb 23 '21 at 15:00

PNT

asked Jan 12 '21 at 22:03

Martin

1

Seems like $a=b$ whenever $y=z$, so in fact your fraction is of the form $0/0$. This is an example of an indeterminate form. – tangentbundle Jan 12 '21 at 22:09
Welcome to Math SE! Please use Mathjax to format your question. – DMcMor Jan 12 '21 at 22:09
@tangentbundle Thanks for the comment. That is not the case in my workings, $y \ne z$ when $a = b$ – Martin Jan 13 '21 at 00:01
1

@DMcMor Edited as requested – Martin Jan 13 '21 at 00:01
Okay, it seems that $a=b$ implies $y=z$ and vice versa, using the two equation that relate $b$ with $y$ and $a$ with $z$. What is the context of these equations, if I may ask? If there a way to report NAN values? – tangentbundle Jan 13 '21 at 01:17

0 Answers0