The Endicott Enquirer News from the Southern Tier

Washington County Teaches Kids that Division by Zero Produces Meaningful Result

So for dividing by zero — what if there are 10 apples to be distributed, but no one comes to the table? How many apples does each "person" at the table receive? The question itself is meaningless — each "person" can't receive zero, or 10, or an infinite number of apples for that matter, because there are simply no people to receive anything in the first place. So , at least in elementary arithmetic, is said to be meaningless, or undefined.

So rumor has it that the Washington County Board of Education is looking to teach our children how to divide by zero. Interesting when you consider that the result is undefined in real number mathematics. As a matter of fact if my sources are correct, they are teaching your kids that if you divide by 10 by 0 then the answer is 10. If you are confused, angry and think the genius who came up with this ought to be fired then I would suggest you begin talking to your childrens' teachers to make sure this is not being taught to your them.

It is important for parents to demand that their kids get a quality education and teaching this kind of false information and plainly absurd notion is going to confuse students when they actually get a teacher that knows better. Start looking at your elementary age childrens' home work and ensure that this is not being taught, if it is find out why and how to stop it.

If you concerned that this is the case please contact the WCBOE at http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/content/pi_contact.cfm