•  Ephera   ( @Ephera@lemmy.ml ) English
    6•6 months ago

    Always bothered me that this feels unintuitive in maths, even though this is precisely what maths tries to model with division.

    But yeah, being able to divide by fractions of 1 and negative numbers and whatnot, that really does not make it feel like you’re cutting cake.

    •  Elise   ( @xilliah@beehaw.org ) English
      2•6 months ago

      If you divide two cakes by half a cake you get four half cakes.

      And negative cakes just make you more hungry. So if you’re 2 cakes hungry and I give you 5 you’ll only have 3 left because you ate them.

      •  Ephera   ( @Ephera@lemmy.ml ) English
        2•6 months ago

        Yeah, I guess, lots of maths being done without units is the culprit here.

        2 / 0.5 = 4 just makes it sound like you’ve magically applied some transformation to 2, which has cloned it.
        2 cakes / 0.5 cakes = 4 half-cakes rather makes it clear why it’s suddenly double the amount, without cloning involved.