# Just want to clear this up

by Warr
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 P: 122 Is $$\frac {1}{\infty} = 0$$ , or is it just infinitely close to 0?
 Sci Advisor P: 6,035 = is correct, the other alternative is not too meaningful, unless you get involved with non-standard analysis.
P: 678
 Quote by mathman = is correct, the other alternative is not too meaningful, unless you get involved with non-standard analysis.
Unless you're using non-standard analysis I don't think the statement $\frac{1}{\infty}=0$ is even meaningful.

 Sci Advisor PF Gold P: 2,226 Just want to clear this up Well, you could say 1/x -> 0 as x tends to infinity (though that obviously doesn'; mean 1/inifnity = 0 especially when infinity isn't even a number).
 P: 122 Lets say there is 1 unit of something in an infinitely large area...then would you say = ? Because then that says that the unit doesn't even exist...
 Sci Advisor PF Gold P: 2,226 No in that situation all we would be saying is that it would be meaningless to talk about the ratio of the area to the unit area.
 P: 122 No it isn't...Because that unit DOES exist. But by saying 1/inf = 0...we say it is non-existant. In the same way, human population with respect to time would be 0 if the above statement were true. This is not so...
 Emeritus Sci Advisor PF Gold P: 16,099 1/∞ doesn't have a "standard" meaning; in some systems where infinite numbers are defined, division doesn't exist. In some others, 1/∞ is some infinitessimal positive nonzero number. In others, 1/∞=0. If you're thinking of ∞ as that "big number that sits at the positive end of the real numbers", then you probably mean to use the extended real numbers, where 1/∞ is defined to be equal to zero.
 Mentor P: 7,315 In my books when infinity is defined as an extension to the Real number line, operations on infinity are also defined, included with these definitions is: $$\frac 1 \infty = 0$$ This is a very specific definition for a very specific application ie the real numbers. If you attempt to apply this definition out of context your results may vary.
 P: 617 I always thought it meant infinitely close to zero, and that’s why the delta at the end of an integral doesn’t yield zero results, because the delta doesn’t actually = zero, just something infinitely small.

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