The Five On Its Side Effect

The original source of this story is not known to this writer.

The story goes that a teacher explained the idea of infinity by using 8/0. The explanation was given that the smaller the denominator the greater would be the value obtained on division. Thus with a zero in the denominator the value would be very large. To express this result the infinity symbol is used. The teacher pointed out that the infinity symbol is an 8 on its side.

Example 1

Subsequently a test was given which included the question, "What is the value of 5/0?" The following result was obtained on some papers.

Whether the story is true or not the five-on-its-side effect does indeed exist.

It is excellently demonstrated by the existence of the Twin paradox. The paradox exists because the ideas are applied blindly to the situation. One cannot find text material which uses the principles of special relativity to resolve the question. Generally resort is made to hand waving about acceleration and/or simultaneity. The principles of special relativity are not used to resolve the question.

The existence of the twin paradox illustrates how deeply embedded the five-on-its-side effect is. Making a statement (the reverse must ...) that directly contradicts the principles set forth by Einstein has given rise to a large number of papers to try to explain the situation in terms that do not directly use these principles. In these cases the three postulates are hidden in such a way as to give the impression that something in addition to the postulates is needed to clarify the situation.

The five-on-its-side effect in the twin paradox arises from failure to use concepts. The mechanism is the same as the one that gives rise to the result that 5/0 equals 5 on its side.

Reluctance to teach and use the principles of special relativity, in particular the Lorentz-Fitzgerald equations, propagates this example of the five on its side effect from generation to generation.