DEmotivationals

[Mr Pwnage]

Well, the real problem is the second line.  You cannot arbitrarily multiply the equation by a.  If you were going to multiply the equation by anything with a, you'd have to multiply by 1 (a/a).  You can't just pull a number out of your ass and multiply the equation by it because you feel like it.

Sure you could, as long as you do the exact same thing to one side as you did with the other. That way the equation would still be true. If I had the equation 4 = 4 for example, I could multiply both sides by, say, a smiley face :). That way I'd get 4(:)) = 4(:)), and the equation would still hold to be true.

It works through the Addition Property of Equality.

I believe the problem here is in the 4th line down, where (a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b).

No. The problem is that they made complete bullshit of the last line with 2=1. Cause this whole problem works if both a and b are 0. And just for the on you mentioned:

Assuming both and a and b are 2:


(2+2)(2-2) = 2(2-2)

(4)-(4) = 2 (0)

0 = 0

It still works...the only problems where 0 is the only answer are under that one...check my explanation above for detail.

[Cactuscat222]

No Mr. Pwnage, the last line works.

They didn't plug in 1 or anything; they divided both sides by a, thus getting 2 = a/a, and that ends up equaling 2 =1.

I'm in calculus this year, but I still can't deduce what is wrong - its something with the way they set it up, I think they did something they couldn't have.

[yottabyte]

[Mr Pwnage]

No Mr. Pwnage, the last line works.

They didn't plug in 1 or anything; they divided both sides by a, thus getting 2 = a/a, and that ends up equaling 2 =1.

I'm in calculus this year, but I still can't deduce what is wrong - its something with the way they set it up, I think they did something they couldn't have.

I said it worked...assuming they are both 0.

You realize 2a=a is impossible unless a is 0....right?




And nice pic yottabytye XD.


EDIT: Chaos just explained it to me on msn...I was "SORTA" correct...heh.

[DarkBlade325]

God I love that website, yottabyte.

[Cactuscat222]

No Mr. Pwnage, the last line works.

They didn't plug in 1 or anything; they divided both sides by a, thus getting 2 = a/a, and that ends up equaling 2 =1.

I'm in calculus this year, but I still can't deduce what is wrong - its something with the way they set it up, I think they did something they couldn't have.

I said it worked...assuming they are both 0.

You realize 2a=a is impossible unless a is 0....right?




And nice pic yottabytye XD.


EDIT: Chaos just explained it to me on msn...I was "SORTA" correct...heh.

Yeah - but they didn't plug in any numbers for that line. I'm saying they took '2a = a' and divided both sides by a, thus getting 2 = 1, because anything over itself is 1.

[Titan]

[Lingus]

No Mr. Pwnage, the last line works.

They didn't plug in 1 or anything; they divided both sides by a, thus getting 2 = a/a, and that ends up equaling 2 =1.

I'm in calculus this year, but I still can't deduce what is wrong - its something with the way they set it up, I think they did something they couldn't have.

I said it worked...assuming they are both 0.

You realize 2a=a is impossible unless a is 0....right?




And nice pic yottabytye XD.


EDIT: Chaos just explained it to me on msn...I was "SORTA" correct...heh.

An equation only works if it works for all numbers. You can't say a=b only when they're both 0.

I can't figure out where the problem is with this. I just validated each step and it seems okay. I thought it was with the 4th step too but I just remembered FOIL. It's the reverse of that process (forgot what that's called). I'm sure there's some little thing that I'm not remembering from math that I took 15 years ago...

[Hambone]

It's really easy. After the problem was factored, they divided both sides by (a-b) a=b therefore (a-b)=0 and they divided by zero, thus cheating the laws of mathematics and comprimising the integrity of their logic.

[Lingus]

Nice. I believe you are correct on that.

[Chaos]

DING DING DING!  Hambone gets the prize!   ;D

[DarkBlade325]

Oh come on, had to do it.

[NotoriousM4^]

[DarkBlade325]

!@#$ing Pyros...

[Red October]

It's really easy. After the problem was factored, they divided both sides by (a-b) a=b therefore (a-b)=0 and they divided by zero, thus cheating the laws of mathematics and comprimising the integrity of their logic.

and one for lulz