Wheel theory

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Wheels are a kind of algebra where division is always defined. In particular, division by zero is meaningful. The real numbers can be extended to a wheel, as can any commutative ring.

Also the Riemann sphere can be extended to a wheel by adjoining an element 0 / 0. The Riemann sphere is an extension of the complex plane by an element \infty, where z/0=\infty for any complex z\neq 0. However, 0 / 0 is still undefined on the Riemann sphere, but defined in wheels.

[edit] The algebra of wheels

Wheels discard the usual notion of division being a binary operator, replacing it with a unary operator / x similar (but not identical) to the reciprocal x − 1 such that a / b becomes short-hand for a \cdot /b = /b \cdot a, and modifies the rules of algebra such that

  • 0x \neq 0\ in the general case.
  • x - x \neq 0\ in the general case.
  • x/x \neq 1\ in the general case, as / x is not the same as the multiplicative inverse of x.

Precisely, a wheel is an algebraic structure with operations binary addition + , multiplication \cdot, constants 0, 1 and unary / , satisfying:

If there is an element a with 1 + a = 0, then we may define negation by x = ax and xy = x + ( − y).

Other identities that may be derived are

  • 0x + 0y = 0xy\
  • x-x = 0x^2\
  • x/x = 1 + 0x/x\

However, if 0x = 0 and 0 / x = 0 we get the usual

  • x-x = 0\
  • x/x = 1\

The subset \{x\vert 0x=0\} is always a commutative ring if negation can be defined as above, and every commutative ring is such a subset of a wheel. If x is an invertible element of the commutative ring, then x − 1 = / x. Thus, whenever x − 1 makes sense, it is equal to / x, but the latter is always defined, also when x = 0.

[edit] References

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