Is the inverse of undefined zero?


Tangent = undefined

Cotangent = 1/tan


1/undefined = zero ? Or undefined

I would guess it's zero.

tan = sin / cos

when tan is undefined it means tan = sin(whatever)/0

so inverse of that would just be 0/sin(whatever) = 0

how are you defining "undefined"? if the denominator is 0 which makes it undefined, then you're saying undefined = 1 / 0, in which case the multiplicative inverse of 1/0 is 0.

if you're saying "undefined" could mean a hole in a graph, then no the inverse is not 0.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Mar 13 2014 06:36pm

in the range 0<=Ɵ<=2pi
tanƟ is undefined for the following values:

tan(pi/2) = undefined
tan(3pi/2) = undefined

the cotƟ for those values is:
cot(pi/2) = 0
cot(3pi/2) = 0

I'm talking about tangent and cotangent. Tangent is y/x... If I said tangent =undefined then y/x must be undefined. If y/x is undefined it must mean x = 0

If tan = undefined, cotan is 1/undefined. Is 1/undefined zero, or undefined ,was my question.

i don't think you can say something such as "tangent=undefined." instead ,it should be something on the lines of, "for x=0 , f(x)=tan(x), f(x) is undefined"
you're trying to use "undefined" as a number or so, which it is not

--------
f(x)= x^.5 , f(x) is undefined for x <0

g(x) = 1/f(x) = 1/(x^.5) , still undefined for x<0 , and x=0, not your "1/undefined = 0"




This post was edited by saber_x3 on Mar 13 2014 09:02pm

it's not that easy
to find out the value of something having 'undefined' in the denominator (or numerator or both) one needs to approach that point via limits
as per your specific question: look at post#4 from 'Azrad'

here is a fun video that doesn't take much math knowledge to follow on a similar topic:

There's some kind of misconception about the definition of cotangent.

Cotangent (x) = cos(x) / sin(x) for every x such as sin(x) is not zero.

Notice that cotan is not 1/tan.

Undefined approaches infinity.
The inverse of undefined approaches zero.