Just naming something
Perhaps the most underwhelming “theory” where the says this:
We’ve just solved a problem that hasn’t been solved for twelve hundred years - and it’s that easy
Watching his video, I’m hoping there’s more to this idea of “Nullity” being equal to 0/0. If there isn’t then all he’s done is given a new name to “undefined.” This most definately doesn’t solve the computing problems that Dr. Anderson is implying that this cute nintendo type name addresses:
“Imagine you’re landing on an aeroplane and the automatic pilot’s working,” he suggests. “If it divides by zero and the computer stops working - you’re in big trouble. If your heart pacemaker divides by zero, you’re dead.”
If this is all it takes to be a doctor then I should have stayed in academia.*
p.s. I actually haven’t read any academic slanted paper on this so I’m just assuming that the BBC article is an accurate representation. Let me know if you have better information.
*As pointed out by Tim, yes, I’m still in “academia” but MBA programs really don’t feel like academia and I think you know what I meant (doing an MSc and PhD etc.)
Realplayer!? Seriously?
I agree, this guy sounds like he’s repackaging something that’s been around for a long time. I say, leave this problem to Paul and the other mathematicians out there.
My biggest problem with his so-called solution is how he frames the problem. He talks about “airplanes crashing due to attemping to divide by zero”. This may be becauses I study Information Systems from a social perspective, but am I the only one to shake this guy and say, machines are not particularly smart! (no fault to computer scientists out there, but the near-religious belief in computers doing everything seems to dominate the field; give people some credit, we’re capable too!)
Problems are only as tough as you frame them; if you don’t want the airplane to crash, you (the designer), build in exception handling for the null result.
Not doing so is building an unstable, vulnerable, system. And as such, the designers are not following best practice design and should be subject to the same legalities that engineers are when they build faulty bridges (tick tick tick).
Here’s an idea.. maybe we should only allow “software engineers” to build mission critical software.. and with proper project management practices, they wont crash a spacecraft into Mars