History Main / DivideByZero

-->--'''[[http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Aristocrats#Example_I One Example]]''' of a "The Aristocrats" joke

* This is, quite literally, what happens when you reach the speed of light, according to this formula for time dilation: γ = 1 / Sqrt[ 1 - (v2 / c2) ] "v" is your speed and "c" is the speed of light. Plug in 186,000 mps (the speed of light) into both of those, square them, and divide. You're left with 1 divided by the square root of (1-1). Or, 1/0. [[YourHeadASplode It ends up this way because moving something that isn't light (or similarly mass-less) at the speed of light requires you to use infinite energy to move something with infinite mass in no time at all.]]

To divide a number by zero is the one thing elementary math teachers tell you that you simply cannot do (but as usual, Real Life is more complicated than elementary school; see below). It led to a joke on {{image board}}s that if someone were to divide a number by zero, it would break reality. Someone making a suggestion that is severely unlikely is often compared to this. When TimeTravel is involved, usually results in a TimeCrash (and a FateWorseThanDeath for all involved). Often perpetrated by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

The characters did something so incredibly ''wrong'' that reality itself couldn't handle it. Could be the result of a TimeParadox, or the risk behind CrossingTheStreams.

* Most modern programming languages have a special "number" that you get when you divide by zero. It is called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaN NaN]]. [=NaN=] is Not a Number.

* Seems to happen in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' [[spoiler:after Kaworu dies]].
** During EndOfEvangelion, One of the BridgeBunnies says something along the lines of (I forget exactly "Their energy levels are converging on an infinite zero." when Rei begins to break the universe. [[GainaxEnding That would explain alot actually.]]

->'''[[TheMuppetShow Statler]]''': Do measurements of the I.Q. of the editors of TVTropes count?

* In a bit of a StealthPun example, bosses and enemies in the MegamanZero games explode after being [[IncrediblyLamePun divided by Zero]] via Z-Saber slashing. Very likely unintentional, but funny nonetheless.

* Seems to happen in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': first [[spoiler:after Kaworu dies]].

* Happens twice in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': first [[spoiler:after Kaworu dies]] and then [[spoiler:after Shinji realizes his ability to accept himself and live happily]].

* In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of time/darkness/sky after Dialga is defeated for the first time, your character (and all the other Pokemon in the future) will disappear because you changed history.

* In the mythology of ''{{Suikoden}}'', Sword (a being that could destroy anything) and Shield (an indestructible being) got into a fight. When Sword struck Shield, both shattered into OneHundredAndEight pieces, the Runes.

* The Espers are afraid that ''HaruhiSuzumiya'' will do this if she learns the truth about [[RealityWarper herself.]]

* In SergeyLukyanenko's ''StarsAreColdToys'', member of the Counter race (living computers) manages to survive the [=FTL=] process developed by humans (it kills or drives insane all known aliens, while giving humans pure ecstasy). How does he do that? By dividing by zero in hi head.

->''"Long numbers divided by zero spray forth marigolds, goldilocks, foliage unseen in shadowed glades, where treefall and cries of 'wolf' go unheard."''

To divide a number by zero is the one thing elementary math teachers tell you that you simply cannot do. (But as usual, Real Life is more complicated than elementary school; see below.) It led to a joke on {{Image Board}}s that if someone were to divide a number by zero, it would break reality. Someone making a suggestion that is severely unlikely is often compared to this. When TimeTravel is involved, usually results in a TimeCrash (and a FateWorseThanDeath for all involved). Often perpetrated by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]].

* The Limit of Questions is a metaphysical concept at play in the world of ''EurekaSeven'' that essentially sets a limit on the number of sentient lifeforms that can exist in a given space. If the Limit of Questions is exceeded, the fabric of reality starts to break down. [[spoiler: Colonel Dewey's goal with the Ageha Project is actually to ''deliberately'' exceed the Limit of Questions by awakening the scub coral, an enormous mass of a colonial alien life form that covers the planet and, as it turns out, is sentient. At one point in history, the scub by itself exceeded the Limit of Questions, but managed to fix things by going into a state of deep hibernation -- but not before a section of the planet was irrevocably screwed up, resulting in a chaotic region known as the Great Wall.]]

* In ''{{Slayers}}'' there was a 50/50 chance that Lina Inverse's "Giga Slave" spell would do this instead of defeating the BigBad. She only learns of that possibility ''after'' doing it, though, and lucked out.
** [[spoiler:The second time she used it, she got a different effect - it summoned the Lord of Nightmares, who decided to just destroy the guy dicking around with the spell instead of destroying the world. And then got ''really'' merciful and decided to not kill Lina after all.]]
* And another for ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', this time from the movie, Lagann-hen. [[spoiler: If collapsing a pocket universe with a [[BeamOWar drill power struggle]] isn't dividing by zero, then I am doing it wrong.]]
* In ''TsubasaChronicle'' [[spoiler: Syaoran broke the magical taboo of stopping a moment in time to save Sakura's life. The unraveling of the fabric of reality ensues.]]

* According to Andy Riley's ''GreatLiesToTellSmallKids'', this will happen to reality if you ever google the word "google".

** And let's not forget the effect of the first Glass Clock in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', which shattered the whole of recorded history. The History Monks just about managed to patch it back together again, leaving behind only a couple of [[PlotHole Plot Holes]].

* In ''DoctorWho'', this would be the result of detonating [[spoiler:Davros's]] "reality bomb".

* ''MADtv'' parody ''I Love the 00's'' has the commentators talk about things in the 00's (like ''AmericanIdol'', Janet Jackson's boob exposure, ''The Passion of the Christ'', etc.). Eventually, the show manages to catch up with itself, showing clips from that exact show piling up on top of each other, leaving the commentators screaming and the world blowing up!

*In {{Dungeons And Dragons}} Putting a BagOfHolding into a Portable Hole or vice-versa tends to create a big rift into the Astral Plane, destroying whatever was in those items, and do bad things to the surrounding area.

*This is the premise behind the ''Time Spiral'' block/story arc of [[{{MagicTheGathering}} ''Magic: The Gathering.'']] Essentially, all the near-apocalyptic scenarios that Dominaria (the core plane of the multiverse) has been through in the previous arcs have caused the fabric of reality to become unstable, causing rifts between timelines and universes that threaten to destroy all that exists.

* [[BigBad Sorceress Ultimecia]] from ''FinalFantasyVIII'' deliberately attempts this via the [[MentalTimeTravel Ellone Junction Machine]]... and then Ellone herself. By flinging her own consciousness further back in time and taking for herself the powers of all the Sorceresses preceding her (a Sorceress ''must'' bequeath her power to someone else before dying,) all the way back to the very first Sorceress, [[TimeParadox she gives linear causality such a wedgie]] that [[TimeCrash all time is compressed]], all reality frozen. (Except for the heroes, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero who allow this to happen]] [[XanatosGambit so they can exploit]] it and [[FinalBattle show up at Ultimecia's front door]].)
** [[spoiler: And, again, a Sorceress ''must'' bequeath her power to someone else before dying. [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Defeating Ultimecia]] forces her to give her powers to Edea before time unfreezes, creating a StableTimeLoop with a possible OntologicalParadox.]]

* Dividing by Zero is what allows a TimeParadox to occur in the LegacyOfKain timeline: Because the past is essentially immutable and [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast everything moves in a linear timeline]], the only way to subvert that timeline is to introduce two instances of the same entity from different points in history to one-another - generally this role is fulfilled by the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Soul Reaver blade]], either as Kain's physical sword or as Raziel's ethereal wraith blade.

* What created the Chaos Heart black hole that threatens to consume the entire [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]] in ''[[PaperMario Super Paper Mario]]''? [[BigBad Bowser]] and [[DamselInDistress Princess Peach]] getting "married." Granted, Peach was being mind controlled and everyone (other than Bowser) agrees it didn't count, but apparently reality thought it was close enough and it was enough to start everything come crashing down.

* In the mythology of ''{{Suikoden}}'', Sword (a being that could destroy anything) and Shield (an indestrucible being) got into a fight. When Sword struck Shield, both shattered into OneHundredAndEight pieces, the Runes.

* The conclusion of the ''[[ElderScrolls Daggerfall]]'' storyline resulted in such an event colloquially known as "the Dragon Break". On activation, [[PhysicalGod Anumidium]]'s presence was enough to [[TimeCrash break the linear flow of time and reality]]. All of Daggerfall's MultipleEndings occurred simultaneously and, as Anumidium was destroyed in each of the separate paths of time, they merged back together. The resulting paradoxes have raised concern that Anumidium ''killed the God of Time''.

* [[EightBitTheater 8 Bit Theater]] While it doesn't get to this point, Fighter is probably stupid enough to do this by existing.

* ''TheUnspeakableVaultOfDoom'' has another literal example of division by zero. The unfortunate mathematician is promptly [[CthulhuMythos introduced to Yog Sogoth]].

* [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-225 SCP-225]] is an illustration of the classic "unstoppable force vs. immovable object" paradox. The SCPFoundation is concerned about the possible consequences of the two objects colliding. They believe that if the objects annihilate each other, they would release at minimum power equivalent to a ''gigatons'' strong nuclear explosion. The possible result if they ''don't'' destroy each other on impact is apparently ''even worse'' -- ''planetary evacuation'' wouldn't be enough to save the human race.

*One episode of ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' revealed that this is essentially what happens if Mandy ever smiles. The ultimate outcome? Billy, Mandy, and the GrimReaper wind up [[CrossoverPunchline literally becoming the]] ''PowerpuffGirls''.

** It is worth noting that a singularity is not necessarily where reality breaks down, but only a place where the equations of general relativity break down. That is, the equations of general relativity are an approximation to reality that is only good for conditions away from the point where the singularity in the equations occurs. It is thought that if a valid theory of quantum gravity were found, it would not have a singularity if applied to conditions at the centre of black holes.

** A similar incident also reportedly occurred with the F-16s purchased by Israel. During testing over the Dead Sea, the navigation system suddenly crashed and restarted. They landed the plane and called out a support team, which ran through all the diagnostics and gave it a passing grade, but every time they tried to take off, it reset itself again. As it ultimately turned out, they had passed sea level on their approach (the Dead Sea rests at over 400 metres below sea level), and every time they reached sea level, the system tried to divide by the altitude (zero) and borked itself. This story apparently also resurfaces every so often with F-16s at Death Valley, which is also below sea level.

* This is, quite literally, what happens when you reach the speed of light, according to this formula for time dilation: γ = 1 / Sqrt[ 1 - (v2 / c2) ] "v" is your speed and "c" is the speed of light. Plug in 186,000 mps (the speed of light) into both of those, square them, and divide. You're left with 1 divided by the square root of (1-1). Or, 1/0. [[YourHeadASplode It ends up this way because moving something that isn't light (or similarly massless) at the speed of light requires you to use infinite energy to move something with infinite mass in no time at all.]]

** Not strictly true. There is [[AintNoRule nothing in General Relativity that says a particle can't have imaginary rest mass.]] Such a particle (traditionally called a "tachyon") would move strictly faster than the speed of light, and it would slow down as it GAINED energy. Such a particle also could not hold electrostatic charge because they would radiate away all their energy and wind up traveling at infinite speed. What effect gravity would have on it isn't clear because [[MindScrew gravity is just that weird.]]

->'''[[TheStinger Waldorf]]''': Do you know of any real-life cases of division by zero?\\
'''[[TheMuppetShow Statler]]''': Do measurements of the I.Q. of the editors of TVTropes count?\\
'''[[StatlerAndWaldorf Both]]''': Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!

** In the current season we are seeing "cracks" in time and space in almost every episode which release energy that are un-writing time, erasing things from existence to where they never existed at all. The Doctor implies these cracks are the result of a future event where someone may have divided by zero...
***[[spoiler:Turns out it was the TARDIS itself, which resulted in the TARDIS exploding, causing all of time and space to explode and cease to exist. Yikes!]]

** There is also the incredibly old demon lord ''Pale Night'' who appears as a female humanoid wrapped in a shroud. The shroud is however not part of herself, but Realities desperate attempt to hide her true form from the rest of the multiverse. She has the ability to shed the shroud for a short moment and only having a very strong WeirednessCensor is the only thing that prevent everyone from being ahnilated by trying to make sense of what they saw.