,
,
,
,
or even expressions of those terms combined as if that would make them defined. I have made this post to answer these questions once and for all, and I politely ask everyone to link this post to threads that are talking about this issue.
,
isn't even rigorously defined in this expression. What exactly do we mean by 
.
,
does not exist in the first place, although you will see why in a calculus course. So the point is that 
?
indeterminate? In analysis (the theory behind calculus and beyond), limits involving an algebraic combination of functions in an independent variable may often be evaluated by replacing these functions by their limits. However, if the expression obtained after this substitution does not provide sufficient information to determine the original limit, then the expression is called an indeterminate form. For example, we could say that 
,
or ![\[0/0, \infty/\infty, \infty-\infty, \infty \times 0\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/2/6/0/260f97a1cf1ea8722ff97a29b83bac7bfe83e577.png)
etc etc. So what makes something undefined? In the broader scope, something being undefined refers to an expression which is not assigned an interpretation or a value. A function is said to be undefined for points outside its domain. For example, the function 
given by the mapping 
is undefined for 
.
is undefined because dividing by ![\[\overline{\mathbb{R}}=\mathbb{R}\cup \{-\infty,+\infty\}.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/9/9/3/993c78b62ec2c84b5d77daa8e9a8cd6f70fcf904.png)
So instead of treating infinity as an idea, we define infinity (positively and negatively, mind you) as actual numbers in the reals. The advantage of doing this is for two reasons. The first is because we can turn this thing into a totally ordered set. Specifically, we can let 
for each 
which means that via this order topology each subset has an infimum and supremum and 
is therefore compact. While this is nice from an analytic standpoint, extending the reals in this way can allow for interesting arithmetic! In ![\begin{align*}
a + \infty = \infty + a & = \infty, & a & \neq -\infty \\
a - \infty = -\infty + a & = -\infty, & a & \neq \infty \\
a \cdot (\pm\infty) = \pm\infty \cdot a & = \pm\infty, & a & \in (0, +\infty] \\
a \cdot (\pm\infty) = \pm\infty \cdot a & = \mp\infty, & a & \in [-\infty, 0) \\
\frac{a}{\pm\infty} & = 0, & a & \in \mathbb{R} \\
\frac{\pm\infty}{a} & = \pm\infty, & a & \in (0, +\infty) \\
\frac{\pm\infty}{a} & = \mp\infty, & a & \in (-\infty, 0).
\end{align*}](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/6/d/8/6d8fc1eca5c791d430a7168cd3b37a02104fa318.png)
So addition, multiplication, and division are all defined nicely. However, notice that we have some indeterminate forms here which are also undefined,![\[\infty-\infty,\frac{\pm\infty}{\pm\infty},\frac{\pm\infty}{0},0\cdot \pm\infty.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/0/b/a0b67076efcc014c78b2023be1151c84b57c1503.png)
So while we define certain things, we also left others undefined/indeterminate in the process! However, in the context of measure theory it is common to define 
as greenturtle3141 noted below. I encourage to reread what he wrote, it's great stuff! As you may notice, though, dividing by ![\[\mathbb{C}^*=\mathbb{C}\cup\{\tilde{\infty}\}\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/8/4/e/84ed3d6ab237df970333b87beaef5311caa46185.png)
which we call the Riemann Sphere (it actually forms a sphere, pretty cool right?). As a note, 
means complex infinity, since we are in the complex plane now. Here's the catch: division by ![\[\frac{z}{0}=\tilde{\infty},\frac{z}{\tilde{\infty}}=0.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/1/6/0/160cb939707708ff4e0930724df2928af11d7fd1.png)
where 
and 
Furthermore, we actually have some nice properties with multiplication that we didn't have before. In 
it holds that![\[\tilde{\infty}\times \tilde{\infty}=\tilde{\infty}\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/8/e/0/8e035b4841d20c5ad671c46355cc667ca01e533b.png)
but 
and 
are left as undefined (unless there is an explicit need to change that somehow). One could define the projectively extended reals as we did with ![\[{\widehat {\mathbb {R} }}=\mathbb {R} \cup \{\infty \}.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/c/0/4/c044ff37849acad3b8b280b9753539225a1276ca.png)
They behave in a similar way to the Riemann Sphere, with division by 
,
,
,
can be expressed by a sum of positive integers 
'![\[n=a_1+a_2+\dots+a_m,\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/6/c/2/6c2a979a5ff6c40bf2d7152c8c32088fc36f848b.png)
where 
,
,
,
and 
.
and 
Prove that
where 
be a function defined on 
taking values in 
for all 
for all 
;
identical-looking coins in a circle. It is known that exactly two of them are fake. Real coins weigh the same, fake ones too, but they are lighter than the real ones. How can you determine in three weighings on a cup scale without weights whether there are fake coins lying nearby or not??
feet and area 
![$\sqrt[2]{2}$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/1/8/6/1869ac018fb72a26a12ab14499cbf1b1c13b4a10.png)
,![$\sqrt[3]{3}$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/1/7/a/17a6bb5dc11696b8650b6d3a11e770f861f4c326.png)
,![$\sqrt[5]{5}$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/b/9/ab90f2d42dc24065e2a64988fe76f22eb9359799.png)
.
such that![\[
\sqrt{x - 2011} + \sqrt{2011 - x} + 10
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/4/8/b/48b82d13b733947420a0d763c6af74636770835a.png)
is an integer.
Y by sixoneeight, qwedsazxc
Let 
be the set of all non-empty sub-strings of "Socrates".
Thus, "Soc", "crates"
but "teS", "sorat", "setarcoS" 
.
Define the sum of two strings
and 
as follows: take the string with the first term that appears first in "Socrates" (if both have the same first term, take the shorter one) and WLOG let it be . Then the sum of these two strings will be the string formed by all the letters between the first term of and the last term of . For instance, "Socr" + "te" 
"Socrate" and "cra" + "ates" "crates".
Find all functions
such that
for all
.
Bonus. What if we change "Socrates" to a string assumed to be of an arbitrary natural number length, with distinct letters (or symbols, if we need more)? The range
is still the same.
be the set of all non-empty sub-strings of "Socrates".Thus, "Soc", "crates"
but "teS", "sorat", "setarcoS" 
.Define the sum of two strings
and 
as follows: take the string with the first term that appears first in "Socrates" (if both have the same first term, take the shorter one) and WLOG let it be . Then the sum of these two strings will be the string formed by all the letters between the first term of and the last term of . For instance, "Socr" + "te" 
"Socrate" and "cra" + "ates" "crates".Find all functions
such that
for all
.Bonus. What if we change "Socrates" to a string assumed to be of an arbitrary natural number length, with distinct letters (or symbols, if we need more)? The range
is still the same.This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Jia_Le_Kong, Jul 29, 2023, 3:40 AM
Reason: typo
Reason: typo
.
and 
produces 
.
where 
is the smaller of 
and 
,
is the bigger of 
and 
.
,
(WLOG 
)
for 
,
for 
.
for 
.
.
with 
,
.
and 
.
and it follows right away that 
is a constant function by induction.
(where 
and 
are their respective atomic substrings):
and
so:
and hence 
for any ![$c\in[0,49]\cap\mathbb Z$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/3/5/d/35d06913a2e4cb7c4734942cee0253d16b66df75.png)
.
.
