History Main / DivideByZero

* "Two Divided By Zero" by ThePetShopBoys.

See also LogicBomb, which can overlap with this. Often the LogicalExtreme of an EpicFail. Not to be confused with TheSingularity.

To divide a number by zero is the one thing elementary math teachers tell you that you [[LiesToChildren simply cannot do]] (but as usual, Real Life is more complicated than elementary school; see the Trivia section above). It led to a joke on {{image board}}s, and older places, 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). An EldritchAbomination is something whose very nature is ''continuous division by zero itself''.

* According to Andy Riley's ''Great Lies to Tell Small Kids'', this will happen to reality if you ever Google the word "Google".

** Egon told them to do this on purpose in the [[WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters cartoon version]] too; when they were falling from a great hight onto water, he shouted to aim at the water and cross the streams. It did save them, creating a waterspout to cushion their fall. Egon later confessed [[spoiler: that he did ''not'' know that would happen. He simply figured they had nothing to lose by trying it.]]

* In ''TheITCrowd'', [[PointyHairedBoss Jen]] is told by Moss and Roy that if you type "google" into {{Google}} it will "break the internet" and she is laughed at during a meeting for believing this. Another episode has them try to have her make a fool out of herself again, this time telling her the internet is contained in a black box and that if anything happened to it, it would be TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. When Jen relays this information during a speech, [[EpicFail everyone believes her and a riot starts when the box is actually destroyed]]. Moss and Roy still find the results entertaining.

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

See also LogicBomb, which can overlap with this. Not to be confused with TheSingularity.

* In ''RealLifeComics'', Greg Dean parodies the possibilities of rune combinations in ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}} II'' [[http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/010709.html in this strip]] by making a sword with a 10% chance of annihilating the space-time continuum.

* In ''H2G2/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', Arthur finds out that if anyone ever simultaneously knows both the answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything ''and'' what that question is, the entirety of existence would cease to exist and be replaced with something even stranger. It's also stated that this may already have happened.
** While writing the script for the movie Douglas Adams implied that each adaptation of the story was meant to be the result of this.

[[folder:Fan Work]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', Mario and Luigi have access to an area inside of Bowser that has warp pipes that lead to areas in the Mushroom Kingdom, outside of Bowser. Bowser himself can't access these warp pipes for obvious reasons. Theoretically however, if Bowser were to enter one of those warp pipes... which lead to an area inside of himself... This trope may very well be invoked.

* ''MetalGearSolid3'' is a {{prequel}} to the series. If you kill a character who is still alive in the future, you'll be yelled at by your (future!) commander because you created a TimeParadox.

* VideoGame/EarthBound has the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yPVBE7BWNU "Simultaneous Defeat Glitch".]] It is triggered when, in a party of two or more, all party members are finished off by the damage an exploding enemy inflicts upon death. The game decides you win with zero alive members and, as always after a battle, tries to divide any experience gained between your alive party members - in this case, zero of them, resulting in [[PowersOfTwoMinusOne 4294940287 exp.]] which is unfortunately unobtainable.

* One episode of ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' revealed that this is essentially what happens if Mandy ever smiles in a joyful (rather than sinister) manner. The ultimate outcome? Billy, Mandy, and the GrimReaper wind up [[CrossoverPunchline literally becoming the]] ''PowerpuffGirls''.

* ''SquareOneTV'' had the ShowWithinAShow "Oops!", where a mathematician makes a mistake that causes a certain disaster to happen, eg incorrectly multiplying 603 by 7 causes Galloping Gertie to collapse.

* Division by zero is ''theoretically'' possible in the higher maths, but is limited in actuality by the inability to define infitiy as a quantity. Technically speaking x/0 equals infinity, but because infinity is well... [[ShapedLikeItself infinite]], it can't be set equal to anything and so division by zero is impossible. One can say, however, that as x ''approaches'' zero, the equation approaches infinity.[[LogicBomb Headache]] [[YourHeadAsplode yet?]]

* In ''TheITCrowd'', [[PointyHairedBoss Jen]] is told by Moss and Roy that if you type "google" into {{Google}} it will "break the internet" and she is laughed at during a meeting for believing this. Another episode has them try to have her make a fool out of herself again, this time telling her the internet is contained in a black box and that if anything happened to it, it would be TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. When Jen relays this information during a speech, [[GoneHorriblyWrong everyone believes her and a riot starts when the box is actually destroyed]]. Moss and Roy still find the results entertaining.

** Some SCPs are kept far apart because the Foundation is afraid of what catastrophes would happen. For example, [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-402 SCP-402]], a rock that can absorb a seemingly infinite amount of water, and [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-109 SCP-109]], a canteen that holds a seemingly infinite amount of water. People are curious as to what happens when the two meet, but no one's willing to try it.

* ''EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' has the Mysts O' Tyme, a marsh where time doesn't...work properly. At one point, Guybrush needs to get through a gate, but he doesn't have the key. Another Guybrush on an identical raft rows up to the gate, and declares he's Guybrush from the future. He says a few things, then hands Guybrush a bunch of items, including the gate key. After going through and rowing around for a while, Guybrush meets his past self from the other side of the gate. If he doesn't say the exact same lines his other self said, or he doesn't hand past Guybrush the items in the right order, he triggers a paradox, summoning a scary vortex (which thankfully only deposits him a few minutes into the past, letting him try again). Also counts as a StableTimeLoop, since it's never explained where Guybrush got those items to begin with.

* ''EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' has the Mysts O' Tyme, a marsh where time doesn't...work properly. At one point, Guybrush needs to get through a gate, but he doesn't have the key. Another Guybrush on an identical raft rows up to the gate, and declares he's Guybrush from the future. He says a few things, then hands Guybrush a bunch of items, including the gate key. After going through and rowing around for a while, Guybrush meets his past self from the other side of the gate. If he doesn't say the exact same lines his other self said, or he doesn't hand past Guybrush the items in the right order, he triggers a paradox, summoning a scary vortex (which thankfully only deposits him a few minutes into the past, letting him try again).

* EscapeFromMonkeyIsland has the Mysts O' Tyme, a marsh where time doesn't...work properly. At one point, Guybrush needs to get through a gate, but he doesn't have the key. Another Guybrush on an identical raft rows up to the gate, and declares he's Guybrush from the future. He says a few things, then hands Guybrush a bunch of items, including the gate key. After going through and rowing around for a while, Guybrush meets his past self from the other side of the gate. If he doesn't say the exact same lines his other self said, or he doesn't hand past Guybrush the items in the right order, he triggers a paradox, summoning a scary vortex (which thankfully only deposits him a few minutes into the past, letting him try again).

-->'''Cave Johnson:''' This next test may involve trace amounts of time travel. So, word of advice, if you meet yourself on the testing track, don't make eye contract. Lab boys tell me that'll wipe out time. Entirely. Forward and backward.

-->'''Robin:''' [[NoYou No, ''you'' did!]]

* One episode of TheAmazingWorldOfGumball reveals that this is the ultimate result of [[FelonyMisdemeanor Gumball's father getting a job]]. [[StatusQuoIsGod Naturally, the cast has to get him fired]].