,
,
,
,
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 
where 
are integers such that 
for all 
.
![\[
r_1 \ge r_a,\quad r_2 \ge r_b,\quad r_3 \ge r_c
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/8/2/1/8214c052ab9ad2c979414f92b6707fa6de33664f.png)
because if any of the radii were smaller than these, the circles would not be able to reach and touch the incircle.![\[
\frac{r_1 + r_2 + r_3}{r} \ge \frac{r_a + r_b + r_c}{r}
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/b/b/a/bbadb40e6aa197207abfa907981e0a4a88926969.png)
![\[
\frac{r_a + r_b + r_c}{r} = \frac{h_a - 2r}{h_a} + \frac{h_b - 2r}{h_b} + \frac{h_c - 2r}{h_c}
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/5/3/2/5329fec1f02a728b5f34817e0ed43ded663516ae.png)
![\[
= \left(1 - \frac{2r}{h_a}\right) + \left(1 - \frac{2r}{h_b}\right) + \left(1 - \frac{2r}{h_c}\right)
= 3 - 2r \left( \frac{1}{h_a} + \frac{1}{h_b} + \frac{1}{h_c} \right)
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/1/e/0/1e087ea87566fb4cf8cd2ae0cda3389247095eea.png)
![\[
\frac{1}{h_a} + \frac{1}{h_b} + \frac{1}{h_c} = \frac{a + b + c}{2S}
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/4/a/a4ab49131584cf2028270e7248fcbb5d2c6a7adb.png)
![\[
3 - 2r \cdot \frac{a + b + c}{2S} = 3 - \frac{4S}{a + b + c} \cdot \frac{a + b + c}{2S} = 3 - 2 = 1
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/0/f/3/0f3ada5ca22deeecc1644d79138942caf04d5134.png)
![\[
\frac{r_1 + r_2 + r_3}{r} \ge 1
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/7/1/e/71ea14c8fb8e3860a1db427a0afcdb3b2fd6254b.png)
a prime number with 
and 
when 
.
else 
.
be real numbers such that 
.
to be the sum of all permutations of the digits of 
such that no digit appears in its original spot. For example, 
and 
.
?
are
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
Let 
be a quadrilateral with 
. Denote by 
the midpoint of the side 
, and assume that 
. Let 
be the foot of the perpendicular from the point to the line 
. The line 
meets 
at 
, and the line 
meets 
at 
. Show that 
and 
.
[Moderator edit: The proposed solution can be found at http://erdos.fciencias.unam.mx/mexproblem3.pdf .]
be a quadrilateral with 
. Denote by 
the midpoint of the side 
, and assume that 
. Let 
be the foot of the perpendicular from the point to the line 
. The line 
meets 
at 
, and the line 
meets 
at 
. Show that 
and 
.[Moderator edit: The proposed solution can be found at http://erdos.fciencias.unam.mx/mexproblem3.pdf .]
.
;
is the intersection of 
// 
Denote 
and 
Then 
and 
for the triangle 
,
:
for the triangle 
,
:
and 
we find the required relation 
and 
for the triangle 
: 
for the triangle 
: 
, 
and using the relation 
obtain a new and interesting relation 
.
.
and 
are cyclic ![\[\angle AKM = \angle ADM = 90^{\circ} - \angle AMD = \angle BMC = \angle BKC = 90^{\circ} - \angle BKM \square \]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/9/f/1/9f1d51f9196e065c58d77b8d580646b39b14a9cd.png)
By Pappus' theorem on 
and 
![\[E = AK \cap MD, F = AC \cap BD, G = MC \cap BK \]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/c/3/ac32823c3feb7a7b6c7dbef8c27334c274887d72.png)
are collinear. Hence, by angle chasing 
and 
are perpendicular bisector of 
.
and 
,![\[\frac{KP}{PA} + \frac{KQ}{QB} = \frac{KJ}{AB} + \frac{KL}{AB} = \frac{JL}{AB} = 1\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/f/2/d/f2d898136db62ea4f37ac8362f80dd8e63cb30c7.png)
where the last equation is given because ![\[\frac{JL}{AB} = \frac{FL}{AF} = \frac{EK}{AE} = 1 \blacksquare\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/0/f/8/0f81804c3741c4cff51c7c934d303dc2b47932c0.png)
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