Unary division: Difference between revisions

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A minus sign with nothing on the left represents negation of whatever's on the right.
A minus sign with nothing on the left represents negation of whatever's on the right.


Why isn't there a unary division symbol?
Why isn't there a unary division symbol?<ref>[https://twitter.com/christianp/status/478815299081633793 Tweet by Christian Lawson-Perfect]: "We have unary minus, i.e. "-2" is the same as "0-2". Why don't we have unary division, i.e. "÷2" could mean the same as "1÷2"?"</ref><ref>[https://twitter.com/christianp/status/1061949551949557760 Tweet]: "Years after impishly proposing a 'unary division' operator at big #mathsjam, I find myself actually needing to introduce one in my real work."</ref>


\[ \div x = \frac{1}{x} \]
\[ \div x = \frac{1}{x} \]


[[Category::Inconsistencies]]
The page on wheels<ref>https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/wheel</ref> in the nLab suggests exactly this.
 
[[Category:Inconsistencies]]

Latest revision as of 04:47, 11 August 2021

A minus sign with nothing on the left represents negation of whatever's on the right.

Why isn't there a unary division symbol?[1][2]

\[ \div x = \frac{1}{x} \]

The page on wheels[3] in the nLab suggests exactly this.

  1. Tweet by Christian Lawson-Perfect: "We have unary minus, i.e. "-2" is the same as "0-2". Why don't we have unary division, i.e. "÷2" could mean the same as "1÷2"?"
  2. Tweet: "Years after impishly proposing a 'unary division' operator at big #mathsjam, I find myself actually needing to introduce one in my real work."
  3. https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/wheel