History Main / RealityBreakingParadox

** In series 5 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, the event in question being the TARDIS exploding, causing all of time and space to explode and cease to exist. Yikes!]]

* While it doesn't take place in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', some dialog plays with it.
-->'''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. So do yourselves a favor and let that handsome devil go about his business.

** In the finale, [[spoiler: Madoka]] pulls an even more audacious one. [[spoiler: Backed by the enormous amounts of karma Homura's time-loops have built up, she wishes to personally destroy every Witch, past, present and future - including hers. Cue Ultimate Madoka one-shotting her own evil future self and leaving the normal flow of time.]]

* Apparently, it was an intentional creation of an effect like this that created Zero Reverse, the disaster that occurred roughly sixteen years(give or take) before the events of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds''. From what we know, Rudger's deliberate sabotage of the Old Momentum Generator caused it to spin in reverse, causing it to create negative energy (a sort of "magical anti-matter") opening a portal to Hell with caused a cataclysm, destroying part of Domino City, killing thousands, and causing it to seperate from the mainland. Even worse, this is supposedly what awakened the [[EldritchAbomination Earthbound Gods]], which would cause trouble for the heroes in the present storyline.

* ''Series/SquareOneTV'' had the ShowWithinAShow "Oops!", where a mathematician makes a mistake that causes a certain disaster to happen. Incorrectly multiplying 603 by 7 causes the Galloping Gertie bridge in Washington to collapse.

->''When TWO [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Falcon Punches]] collide, [[DeusExMachina GOD comes from the heavens]], and [[EarthShatteringKaboom Shoop da Whoops the world]] because [[PureAwesomeness that much awesomeness]] can't exist.''
-->--Website/YouTube comment

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NojiCsZQSr8 This]] Staples Easy Button commercial, where people are concerned what will happen if you use an easy button to ''find'' and easy button.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NojiCsZQSr8 This]] Staples Easy Button commercial.

--> '''Narrator Crow''': [[LampshadeHanging YOU FOOLS! YOU BROKE THE NATURAL ORDER!]]

* 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]] or else the universe would cease to exist.

->''When TWO [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Falcon Punches]] collide, [[DeusExMachina GOD comes from the heavens]], and [[EarthShatteringKaboom Shoop da Whoops the world]] because that much awesomeness can't exist.''

See also [[ApocalypseHow/Class Z Class Z Apocalypse]] and LogicBomb, which can overlap with this. Often the LogicalExtreme of an EpicFail. Not to be confused with TheSingularity. Contrast BeyondTheImpossible (breaking internal logic) and UpToEleven (breaking a record). See also BreakingTheFourthWall, which is when a character violates ''fictional'' reality.

The characters did something so incredibly ''wrong'' that reality itself couldn't handle it. It could be the result of a TimeParadox, the result of a YinYangClash, an [[UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject unstoppable force meeting an immovable object]], or the risk behind the ForbiddenChekhovsGun. Whatever the case, it's TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt unless something gets fixed quickly.

See also LogicBomb, which can overlap with this. Often the LogicalExtreme of an EpicFail. Not to be confused with TheSingularity. Contrast BeyondTheImpossible (breaking internal logic) and UpToEleven (breaking a record). See also BreakingTheFourthWall, which is when a character violates ''fictional'' reality.

* 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.

** In mathematics "a zero" is another name for an input to an equation that would make the output zero (such as x=2 for y=2x-4). Ironically infinity would be a zero for (y=1/x) - that is, dividing by infinity.
* [[TimeCrash Something very close to this]] happens in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. If you make a wish with indefinite duration (as opposed to instant wishes like "heal someone's crippled hand" or "save someone from the brink of death"), your wish is somehow tied to the passage of time. [[spoiler: Homura]]'s wish to save someone already dead turned her life into a GroundhogDayLoop, although she could control when she went back.

* Apparently, it was an intentional creation of an effect like this that created Zero Reverse, the disaster that occured roughly sixteen years(give or take) before the events of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds''. From what we know, Rudger's deliberate sabotage of the Old Momentum Generator caused it to spin in reverse, causing it to create negative energy (a sort of "magical anti-matter") opening a portal to Hell with caused a cataclysm, destroying part of Domino City, killing thousands, and causing it to seperate from the mainland. Even worse, this is supposedly what awakened the [[EldritchAbomination Earthbound Gods]], which would cause trouble for the heroes in the present storyline.

* At the end of GeorgeCarlin's special ''Life Is Worth Losing'', he talks about a broken water main in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles leading to more and more bizarre developments, eventually resulting in a wormhole opening above Earth, and all the dead people flooding out.

* In ''{{Dogma}}'' the one universal constant is that God is infallible. Proving Him/Her wrong would result in a paradoxical event, essentially unmaking everything God had ever made, i.e., [[ApocalypseHow everything]].
* BeingJohnMalkovich: There's a door into Malkovich's head that allows you to experience being him for fifteen minutes. Malkovich himself finds this door and goes in [[spoiler:and enters a world where everybody is him and speaks PokemonSpeak]].

* This is the effect of the first Glass Clock in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', which [[TimeCrash shattered the whole of recorded history]]. The History Monks just about managed to patch it back together again, leaving behind only a couple of {{plot hole}}s.

* The last three books of TheSwordOfTruth deal with a spell which creates a contradiction, by making a person exist and not exist at the same time, then these contradictions breed other contradictions... In short, the ultimate artifact of the series was created precisely for countering the spell before it unravels all reality.
** To be more precise - the Chainfire spell is so powerful and unstable that it expands exponentially, destroying all memory - creating contradictions and gaps growing ever larger beyond the scope of merely forgetting the original subject of the spell. In addition, the residual effect of the Chimes (entities from the underworld that erode away magic from the world of life simply by existing on this side of the veil) make the effect far more dangerous. Instead of just the Chainfire spell turning every thinking being into a blank, slobbering slate, you have a world soon to be filled with blank, slobbering slates and on the verge of a mass-extinction event.
*** To be even more precise: Chainfire, when invoked, was supposed to wipe all presence of its target from memory and history. Any relationship between an outside observer and that character was wiped clean, as if they never existed. Events in which that character participated are altered to remove them. Prophecies that mention them cease to be or are altered. False memories needed to prevent the appropriate paradoxes are implanted to fill those gaps. Outside observers ''do'' still see the subject, however the spell prevents the memory of seeing them from being stored the instant it's created. They don't exist as even a shadow in their mind. The lingering effects of the Chimes interfered with this process, leaving gaps in the coverage of the spell. Although the ''memory'' of [[spoiler: Kahlan]] was wiped clean, Chainfire failed to prevent some people from ''seeing'' [[spoiler: her]] as it was supposed to, thus creating the contradiction of a person who is not supposed to exist, existing. The Sword of Truth ''also'' causes elements of the spell to fail. Because Richard was holding the sword when the spell was cast, he was completely unaffected by it. Additionally, anyone who ''touched'' the sword would be able to partially see through its effects. Although their memories of the victim would not be restored, they ''would'' now be able to see them and recognize their existence.

** [[InsistentTerminology Five sixths]] [[RunningGag of a solar system.]]
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', this would be the result of detonating [[spoiler:Davros']] "reality bomb". It "destroys reality" but dissolving the bonds that hold molecules together, effecting dissolving all matter into its constituent particles.

** HilariousInHindsight as VH1 ended up doing an ''I Love'' series on the 00's, entitled ''I Love The New Millenium'', which both was done in 2008, before the decade ended, and in which the commentators discussed many of those same subjects.
* It's not exactly the end of the world, but on an episode of {{Newsradio}}, photocopying a mirror causes a building-wide blackout.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' presents us with a strategy briefly toyed with by the Earth Alliance known as the [[TooDumbToLive Bonehead Maneuver]][[note]][[RubberForeheadAliens No offense intended towards the Minbari]][[/note]], where a ship would open a jump point inside of an active jump gate. This resulted in a massive explosion that simply proved to be too powerful and fast for the ship in question to escape. Any ship big enough to create its own jump gates tended to be too slow for this to work, until the ''White Star'' came along, after which the strategy was still too risky to try more than once.
* In ''TheITCrowd'', [[PointyHairedBoss Jen]] is told by Moss and Roy that if you type "google" into Website/{{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.

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'', 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.

*** A variant of this is described in the ''Elder Evils'' sourcebook. Putting a [[SphereOfDestruction Sphere of Annihilation]] into a Well of Many Worlds creates a ''black hole'' - which proceeds to ''[[ApocalypseHow swallow up the entire Material Plane in a matter of minutes]]'' barring divine intervention.
**** A Sphere of Annihilation on its own should qualify, as it is literally a hole in the continuity of the multiverse. And considering it is an artifact, that means it was built.

* [[BigBad Sorceress Ultimecia]] from ''VideoGame/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 [[ThePlan (except for the heroes who allow this to happen 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. [[spoiler:Since the soul-eating aspect of the blade is in fact Raziel's spirit, Raziel, once he acquires the blade as a weapon, is a walking paradox, able to ScrewDestiny with every action he takes - which is why everyone in the world wants him as a pawn.]]
* ''VideoGame/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.
** If you choose the "No" option on the Game Over screen, it will also read "TIME PARADOX", because the Snake you are playing as in this one is Big Boss.

* Franchise/TheElderScrolls calls such events "Dragon Breaks", where the god of time, known by many names and guises, but most prominently as a dragon god "Akatosh", is tampered with.

* In ''GranTurismo 3'', if you pop a wheelie with a properly-tuned Escudo, you can reach the speed of [[PowersOfTwoMinusOne 2,147,483,647]] mph (that's FTLTravel there), which crashes the game.

* In SonicShuffle, if you get a Carbuncle item and have no other Force Jewels, it ''eats itself''.

* ''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 those items came from in the first place.

** In ''Webcomic/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 the first ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie, Bender causes this by gathering a whole bunch of time-duplicates of himself from his many trips back in time and convincing them not to come out when they were supposed to.

-->'''Cyborg:''' You can't divide tape with tape! You created a paradox!
-->'''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]] or else [[FridgeHorror the universe would cease to exist]].

* A less metaphysical variation on this joke is the one suggesting that if every single person in China (well over 1 billion and counting) each climbed onto a chair and jumped down to the floor, the resulting shockwave would be so catastrophic it would cause the Earth to break out of its orbit and hurtle toward the Sun, incinerating all life on the planet. (The reality: [[CriticalResearchFailure No, wouldn't even come close.]]) When this joke is portrayed in visual media, it will usually depict a (non-Chinese) person seeing some people of Chinese descent standing on their chairs and immediately freaking out.

* In ''{{Dogma}}'' the one universal constant is that God is infallible. Proving Him/Her wrong would result in a paradoxical even, essentially unmaking everything God had ever made, i.e., [[ApocalypseHow everything]].
* The Nothing has this effect on the imaginary universe of ''Film/TheNeverendingStory''.

* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', this is what the Anti-Spirals feared: with the Spiral beings' endless quest for the will to power, they will transmute so much mass that the universe collapses in a black hole called the Spiral Nemesis. There's also another example from TheMovie, Lagann-hen. [[spoiler:If collapsing a pocket universe with a [[BeamOWar drill power struggle]] isn't dividing by zero, nothing is.]]

* In ''{{Dogma}}'' the one universal constant is that God is infallible. Proving Him/Her wrong would result in a Divide By Zero event, essentially unmaking everything God had ever made, i.e., [[ApocalypseHow everything]].

* Nell uses an actual and deliberate divide by zero in ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'' to break one of the Primer's simulations.

* Parodied in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novels, where one of Hex's quirky error messages is "Divide by Cucumber Error". Also, "Please reinstall universe and reboot."
** And let's not forget the effect of the first Glass Clock in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', which [[TimeCrash shattered the whole of recorded history]]. The History Monks just about managed to patch it back together again, leaving behind only a couple of {{plot hole}}s.

* Ted Chiang's ''[[http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/i/division/ Division By Zero]]'' uses this as an analogy for the central mathematical conceit of the plot.

* In Aldous Huxley's ''Point Counter Point'' (1928), a [[UpperClassTwit dilettante marquess]] is attempting to mathematically prove the existence of God:
-->"You know the formula, ''m'' over nought equals infinity, ''m'' being any positive number? Well, why not reduce the equation to a simpler form by multiplying both sides by nought? In which case you have ''m'' equals infinity times nought. That is to say that a positive number is the product of zero and infinity. Doesn't that demonstrate the creation of the universe by an infinite power out of nothing? Doesn't it?"
-->"Well,"...
* The "bubbles of evil" in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' may count.
* {{Dragaera}}: Adron's Disaster
** To say nothing of the disaster that knocked the Jenoine from power.
* In SergeyLukyanenko's ''TheStarsAreColdToys'', 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 his head, which puts him into a temporary coma until his "systems" restart.
** Apparently, living computers can't understand the mathematical concept of undefined - the result of dividing by zero.
** Initially, a human character assumes the Counter is talking about Fermat's Last Theorem when describing an impossible mathematical operation. However, the Counter merely replies that the theorem is not impossible but simply incorrect. (Which is itself incorrect; Fermat's Last Theorem had been proven in 1995, before the novel was published.)

* The Nothing has this effect on the imaginary universe of ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory''.

* [[AWizardDidIt Magically]] [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique weaponized]] in [[ABootStompingAHumanFaceForever 10 A BOOT STOMPING 20 A HUMAN FACE 30 GOTO 10]].[[spoiler: The necromancer protagonist discovers that he can not only summon the dead, but also fictional characters and ''[[MindScrew concepts]].'']]

* In ''{{Dollhouse}}'' Adelle suggests this would be the result when the Doll Victor's current imprint mentioned the possibility of him paying to get the services of a Doll (he refused the idea, by the way).

* ''Series/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.

[[folder:Music]]
* Inverted in BobDylan's "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" ([Love - 0]/∞)
* "Two Divided By Zero" by PetShopBoys.
* Inverted in JethroTull's "One White Duck / 0[[superscript:10]] = Nothing At All"
[[/folder]]

** Which, when done in the English version, completely kills a ShoutOut to Film/BackToTheFuture because [[HeyItsThatVoice said commander's seiyuu also voiced Doc Brown]].
* The Unrepeatable Bug, an enemy in ''SuperheroLeagueOfHoboken'', can divide by zero to cause moderate damage to an opponent. The text notes that the victim "didn't avert his/her eyes in time".

* This is the spectacular effect of using the Pandora's Box in ''ShadowMadness''.

* 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.

* ''SystemShock2'' features broken vending machines that cannot be used until repaired using sufficient Repair skill or a repair kit. The glitched interface of the broken machine features "division by zero" among the flood of garbage data, presumably the source of the problem.

* IrregularWebcomic! Do not ever mess with time travel.
* In the ''ProblemSleuth'' stories of ''Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures'', dropping one of a pair of connected portals through its own counterpart causes this.
* In ''Webcomic/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.
* [[InstantAIJustAddWater Ennesby]] of ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' uses this as a curse: "Divide me by zero!"
* ''TheUnspeakableVaultOfDoom'' has another literal example of division by zero. The unfortunate mathematician is promptly [[CthulhuMythos introduced to Yog Sogoth]].
* Dividing by zero apparently creates invisible paint in ''TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella''.

* According to ''AbstruseGoose'', [[http://abstrusegoose.com/440 division by zero]] is the solution to {{Vaporware}}.

* ChuckNorris [[Website/ChuckNorrisFacts doesn't divide by zero]], [[VideoGame/MegaManX Ze]][[VideoGame/MegaManZero ro]] [[InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou divides by]] ChuckNorris.
** [[EpilepticTrees OF COURSE, THAT'S IT!!! ZERO IS SO BADASS BECAUSE HE DIVIDES HIS ENEMIES BY CHUCK NORRIS USING HIS SWORD!!!]]

* Almost happened in audio format [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqgEm8XWXu8 here]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DFed7jG3i8 The Last Denominator]]

* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'', 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 used.

* In a bit of a StealthPun example, bosses and enemies in the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' games explode after being [[IncrediblyLamePun divided by Zero]] via Z-Saber slashing. Very likely unintentional, but funny nonetheless.
** [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DIVISION_BY_ZERO_4150.JPG This picture]] brings the pun into [[DiagonalCut its logical conclusion.]]

* In the Pokémon fanfic ''FanFic/AshsReturn'', a Pokémon battle is cut abruptly short by the command: "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_paradox Make a Pokémon that defeats all Pokémon other than Pokémon that defeat themselves!]]"

* Tom Paris broke the transwarp barrier on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s "Threshold", thereby achieving the fabled Warp 10, or infinite velocity. Impressive! It doesn't mess with the universe, but it does [[BodyHorror do weird things to him]]. A pity the episode was [[CanonDiscontinuity erased from canon]] (with good reason).

* In ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Magical Chronicle Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' there exists a spell "[[http://nanoha.wikia.com/wiki/Divide_Zero Divide Zero]]". (It is a [[WaveMotionGun powerful attack]] comparable to Nanoha's Starlight Breaker.)

* [[ForbiddenChekhovsGun Crossing the streams]] in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' would result in "all life as you know it stopping instantaneously" and would cause "every molecule in your body to explode at the speed of light." Fortunately, the BigBad was already screwing with reality in the end so it turned out to be the one time it was the right thing to do.
** It helped that all instances of the streams being crossed happened within the ghost zone, where the physics are skewed so the result isn't the same as if it was done in the real world.
*** Alternate explanation: crossing the streams did result in as horrible an affect as Egon first explained. The reason the gate closed was because ''the other universe ceased to exist''.
*** This explanation is no longer valid as in the Videogame you continue and expand the story of the movies (and is completely canon) and the main villains, as Gozer, continue existing. So either Egon is a bit exaggerated (sort of like [[Film/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]] with his theories of time crashes) or the Universe has way to deal with this.
*** Of course, in the videogame, crossing the streams just results in painful knock down. Maybe Egon fixed that problem, or it simply wasn't as bad as initially expected?
*** 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.]] (Again, the cartoon is not cannon if you take the second movie into account, and in this reality, Egon may have upgraded the packs since the first.)
**** In the games, there's a safety measure installed in the new proton packs that automatically shuts down the neutrona wand if the beams cross. The safety has to be turned off at the end in order for them to defeat the Destructor. Apparently the ghost world just has different laws of physics.

* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'': While it doesn't get to this point, Fighter is probably stupid enough to do this by existing.
** It doesn't get to this point? [[TooDumbToLive Black Belt]] '''created a clone of himself''' using this as an excuse. Somehow, he got '''so''' lost that he broke space and time.
*** And do note, he got this completly lost that it broke reality, while walking down a straight hallway.

The characters did something so incredibly ''wrong'' that reality itself couldn't handle it. Could be the result of a TimeParadox, the result of a YinYangClash, or an [[UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject unstoppable force meeting an immovable object]], or the risk behind the ForbiddenChekhovsGun.

->"''Long numbers divided by zero spray forth marigolds, goldilocks, foliage unseen in shadowed glades, where treefall and cries of 'wolf' go unheard.''"
-->--'''[[http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Aristocrats#Example_I One Example]]''' of a "TheAristocrats" joke

* [[TheSmartGuy Egon]] of ''TheRealGhostbusters'' manages to [[ExplosiveInstrumentation overload his calculator]] with an ''offensive football play'' that, if executed, would not only completely collapse the defense but perhaps all known space as well.
** There was also the episode "The Hole in the Wall Gang". In a haunted house, ghosts were spawned out of holes in the wall, and how big and powerful the ghost was depended on the size of the hole. (Small hole, weak ghost, big hole, strong ghost.) This created a problem when fighting them blew a ''huge'' hole in the wall, with the potential to spawn the worst monster they had ever fought. Egon quickly determined that placing a smaller hole inside the big hole could dispell the effect, but he aborted the plan upon realizing it might also cause a DividedByZero situation and cause the entire universe to implode. But [[FromBadToWorse it only got worse]] when the creature destroyed the whole house, making the hole ''much'' bigger, and giving them no choice but to risk the first plan. Fortunately, the risk paid off.

** In mathematics "a zero" is another name for an input to an equation that would make the output zero (such as x=2 for y=2x-4). Ironically infinity would be a zero for (y=1/x) - that is, [[DivideByZero dividing by infinity]].

* In ''{{Dogma}}'' the one universal constant is that God is infallible. Proving Him/Her wrong would result in a DivideByZero event, essentially unmaking everything God had ever made, i.e., [[ApocalypseHow everything]].

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 [[Analysis/DivideByZero analysis page]] for details). 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). Expect phrases such as "ruptured the fabric of reality" or "created a warp in the space-time continuum" (the latter especially in humorously exaggerated instances) or simply that something "boggles the mind." An EldritchAbomination is something whose very nature is ''continuous division by zero itself''.

Compare AwesomenessIsVolatile, where ChuckNorris [[Website/ChuckNorrisFacts can divide by zero]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In Einstein's equations for the theory of General Relativity, there is one point in which, for certain situations, you would have to divide by 0. Most probably both the TropeNamer and TropeCreator, as the result of it is the equation that describes Black Holes. As is often the case with theoretical science, the gritty details are more complicated:
** When physics equations result in divisions by zero, it's a cue to physicists that there is a problem in the theory. In this case, it's because the current standard theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics don't play well together - which means that one or both of these current theories must be wrong. The fact that we know this doesn't cause practical problems: in practice, we can use either one or the other, because relativity only matters when massive objects are involved and quantum mechanics only matters on very small scales, but in the rare circumstances where there are supermassive objects on tiny scales (i.e. the core of a black hole or the beginning of the universe) we start to run into the limitations of the standard model. (There are numerous alternate theories which do resolve these paradoxes, though)
* There's also an old algebraic parlor trick which uses a stealthy version of this trope to [[http://www.mathmojo.com/interestinglessons/1equals2/1equals2.html "prove" that 1=2]]. This also serves as a ''reductio ad absurdum'' demonstration of why numeric logic forbids mathematicians to divide by zero.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rip The Big Rip]], a possible fate of the universe, where its expansion accelerates until everything is moving away from each other infinitely quickly. By then, everything in the universe will be infinitely far apart. Also, because time slows down as things approach the speed of light, and everything is moving faster than light, time itself will malfunction and self-destruct.
** That being said, whether the universe is headed towards a Big Rip or not depends on the quantity of dark matter in the universe. Estimates put it either at the amount or extremely close to the amount that, if placed into an equation determining the ultimate age of the universe, would result in a denominator of zero, making it a literal case of Divide by Zero. (In this instance, the universe will reach a certain size and stay at that size forever.)
* 0/0 is consistent with any number. If one gets an expression leading to 0/0, it means one has to reformulate the problem. (For example, the 0/0 expression for the energy of a massless particle moving at light-speed. It's fixed by eliminating the particle's speed in favor of its momentum.)
* Division by zero is undefined in mathematical systems that obey most of the usual rules of arithmetic, known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_%28mathematics%29 rings]]. However, there are certain other systems such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_real_line extended real line]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_projective_line real projective line]] where division by zero is meaningful (and "infinite" in some sense).
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