•  Elise   ( @xilliah@beehaw.org ) 
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    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 ) 
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      26 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.