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While defining x/0 = 0 is sound, it has tradeoffs, as OP acknowledges. In "Papers with computer-checked proofs" (2024), D. J. Bernstien wrote:

> There is a claim ... that “dividing by 0 is not allowed in mathematics, and hence this cannot be relevant to their work”, but in fact a mathematician is permitted to deduce b ≠ 0 from c = a/b, since a/b is undefined for b = 0. Redefining the notation to allow b = 0 breaks this. Unless it occurs to the author to state a conclusion c = a/b and a conclusion b ≠ 0, the proof assistant won’t check that b ≠ 0, whereas the reader will think that this has been checked.

https://cr.yp.to/papers/pwccp-20240727.pdf



I suspect that D.J. Bernstein's preferred apples are of the silicon variety, but I could be mistaken. He is from New York, one of the early states where Honeycrisps were grown, but Long Island, which doesn't have much agriculture.

Maybe he'll see this and can chime in.




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