Division by zero
A human story about science.
Division by zero is a short story by Ted Chiang.
It’s a story about a mathematician proving arithmatic is incosistent. That two is equal to one without using division by zero.
The proof is not important but it’s implication is not on the world but on the mathematician who proved it. I never imagined that if somebody wrote a story about arithmatic being incosistent it would focus on the mental health of the individual who proved it.
The story follows the story of a couple who’ve both tried to commit suicide once in their life both for differnt reasons.
The story starts with Reene still in suicide care and Carl her husband regularly visting cause he knows what’s it like to be in the situation Reene is.
Reene is a mathmatician who has proved one is equal to two without using division by zero. This proof has impacted her personal life more than the professional. She doesn’t wanna believe that her proof is correct. The proof means that everything she ever believed in was a lie.
Meanwhile Carl Reene’s husband is also affected by this proof as her wife is no longer how she used to be. Even though Carl has a lot of empathy for suicidal people as he was one of them at one point. He still can only feel empathy for Reene cause he can’t understand what she’s going through. The sad part is that he only feels sympathy towards her not even love and he plans to leave her when she gets well.
The story over all was heart touching and a very human story, the story resonated with me throughout.