,
,
,
,
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 
that satisfies the following condition.
,
that 
is less than 
,
are chosen such that when going around the triangle, the points occur in the order 
.![\[
AD_1 = AD_2 = BE_1 = BE_2 = CF_1 = CF_2.
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/4/c/f/4cf9e7bc009736836bcd10c1d8ba46bd3a91cd7b.png)
Prove that the perimeters of the triangles formed by the lines 
and 
are equal.
is chosen. Prove that there exists a prime number that divides infinitely many terms of the sequence 
,![\[
b_k = a^{k^k} \cdot 2^{2^k - k} + 1.
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/1/7/5/1751a60482d729a36c71b77ac9c978e724f40da0.png)
are tangent to each other and internally tangent to a circle with radius 
Find 
,
,
,
,
.
has two roots 
and 
.
and 
.
.
.
is 
what is the value of 
?
number 
such that 
He is then sued, and forced to lower the price to match the original ratio of paper towel to cost. By what percentage does he lower the cost?
Also, after two elves steal all of the presents they made, the remaining number of presents ends in 
How many presents did the two steal?
be real numbers satisfying
Find the minimum value of 
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
In a triangle 
with 
, 
is a point on 
such that the incenter of 
coincides with the circumcenter 
of 
. Let 
be the intersection point of the tangent lines to the circumcircle 
of 
at points 
and 
. The lines 
and 
meet at 
. The tangent to at meets 
at 
. Prove that 
.
with 
, 
is a point on 
such that the incenter of 
coincides with the circumcenter 
of 
. Let 
be the intersection point of the tangent lines to the circumcircle 
of 
at points 
and 
. The lines 
and 
meet at 
. The tangent to at meets 
at 
. Prove that 
.This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Sayan, Jun 2, 2014, 7:08 AM
be the intersection of tangents from 
intersection of 
with 
.
,
collinear and 
collinear, hence 
collinear 
.
bisects 
.
bisects 
.
.
and let the tangents at 
,
collinear; and applying on 
,
collinear.
collinear 
intersects the tangent at 
and 
touches ![$\omega]$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/1/8/a/18ad6f05667731d01fdab7d45586139db714a24a.png)
.![$[QED]$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/7/9/f/79f768c32001fa5cb49e13629878a11b3c62b159.png)
