What happens when you divide by zero on a mechanical calculator?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มี.ค. 2021
- This is how the Friden STW-10 handles 12345 ÷ 0.
This calculator divides by trying to repeatedly subtract so it gets stuck in an infinite loop trying to subtract zero from the dividend. Fortunately the designers included a “DIV STOP” lever which breaks the cycle.
Digital calculator: Sorry man, but you can't do this...
Mechanical calculator: LET ME COOK
😂
LOL
it sounded like shots were fired
LMFAO
quite literally
The fact that that stop switch exists tells me that the designers definitely predicted this exact scenario
"We know y'all finna fuck around with this shit lmao"
@@syzerchas5111 yeah probably
Or if you were in the middle of multiplying 39103 x 136 but you forgot to lock your bedroom door and your mom walked in
@@syzerchas5111 There weren't any blacks around at that time that spoke in this degenerated and mocking form of english.
@@hiten_style bro as an Asian I understand you
Mechanical calculators are unironically so impressive
wait a minute I know your channel from somewhere...I'm actually curious how you do that, I wanted to know that for so long 🎉
Wow you totally did not buy that TH-cam channel from a website called FLIPD under the “Stat TH-cam Accounts” category amirite
literally
You lied you were not one sub away from 5.99M subscribers 😔
Hey! You were the one who commented on my TH-cam channel, what’s up?!
Modern Calculator: "It's not possible!"
This absolute unit: "No, it's necessary!"
Underrated
psycho calculator: "why not you stupid bastard"
imagine bringing this to the exam hall
I would
You put in on your desk and the desk just collapses under the weight
@@jacobgoodstone7572not only that but the noise
imagine sitting on a desk writing an exam and you suddenly start hearing a bunch of noisy clacking coming from across the hall
Lmao get as many as you can, imagine a ton of these going off at the same time 😂😂
How to convert 1950s calculator into diesel engine
It even has a long start up before running as if it is cold!
Lmao!
@@kaanceylan4748 language..
So just put this calculator in the engine, divide by 0 and that's infinite power
Yes
Can we just appreciate that this video isn't 10 minutes long and just straightforward gets to the point?
im so sorry if this wasnt copied but the wording is too similar to another comment on this video
On TikTok it would be like 3 parts
No music, no narration. Right to the point. A+
I prefer the 10 hour version.
But, before we get into the video, how does a mechanical calculator even work?
I love how no one is talking about the absolutely satisfying sound this thing gives off.
Now you talked about it and spoiled it. Delete your comment.
Now you talked about it and spoiled it. Delete your comment.
@predictless1009 what is he spoiling exactly?
Ironically, the mechanical calculator agrees with the electronics engineers on how to divide by zero.
Why does this have no replies i want context
@@therandomone93im still not an electrical engineer but i think it has to do with tendency to go to infinity, so you can just stop and say it is indeterminate. It could be that or the OP is just being redundant because electronics are physical machines, but smaller and quicker.
@@therandomone93 mathematicians and engineers always argue about what actually happens when something is divided by 0, with mathematicians saying its "indeterminate" while engineers say "infinity". the reason behind this is because engineers always need a result, so saying "indeterminate" doesnt solve their problem, while saying "infinity" is more realistic since we can "imagine" infinity much better than something that is "indeterminate"
@@PadresEnjoyer Depends which limit you are approaching so I'm going to go with the mathematicians if its not specified.
@@PadresEnjoyer I don't think it's that at all. In electronics, most binary integer dividers uses algorithms that makes it go to infinity if you input 0 as the denominator; it's not because engineers *want* a result, it's just a byproduct of the algorithm they use, and the calculator shown in the video uses integer arithmetic.
Now engineers may like having a result where mathematicians don't, like in the Sinc() function, but it's not what happens in the context of integer arithmetic and the calculator of the video.
User: ok that's enough
Calculator: No, no wait I almost got it!
lmao
Yh it wasn’t even close
Imagine pulling this out in school when the teacher asks to use calculators for the assignment
Detention for noise
I brought a big 1970 desk top calculator to school one day the teacher took it for being a distraction now I can’t do my work man 😢
digital: ERROR 404
mechanical: calculating
Epic fail oh shit
Others may have said this, but that piece of engineering is just beautiful. Made my heart warm just watching this gorgeous thing at work.
Glad you enjoyed it!
On the other hand mine is skipping beats imagining if this thing breaks what a p.i.t.a. it will be to fix!!! It is quite the unit though for sure probably hit it with a car & total the car and will still work.
This is funny, It does not like the /0 input
It's really beautiful, but I would like some one to dis assemble and show it's inner workings.
I always wanted one of these. Now that I can afford one, it would just be decoration.
An electronic calculator will just give up immediately, but this calculator will literally attempt the impossible to do it's job.
🫡
respect for this calculator 🫡
Difference is the response time after some it will also give up
The physical integer division algorithm in a CPU is most likely similar to this one. It would also just run forever if attempting division by zero. But the CPU designers know that, so they implement a check before hand. You wouldn't want your computer to lock up if some rogue application divides by zero.
A mechanical calc can be designed to produce an error message.
As much as some elec ones really do bug on this ...
Listening to it suffering attempting to divide by zero is… oddly soothing. I’m adding to my playlist
Every so often this video gets recommended to me, and I always watch it.
In high school fifty years ago, there was one jerk who enjoyed putting divide-by-zero into all the mechanical calculators in the math room. These did not have reset buttons, and the result was that they remained stuck in that calculation and all had to go to the repair shop.
Unplugging them didn't reset them?
@AndyZach No, we tried that. The manufacturer of this variety of calculator apparently had not thought about malicious-minded teenagers doing pranks. I never did it myself, but it was fun making it divide by .000001 or something similar. It would work feverishly for quite a long time and eventually come up with the answer.
@@AndyZach "mechanical"
@@Threedog1963 Why? Did a 286 screw your sister? The point of vandalizing a good machine eludes me completely...
@@ilmaio because I was a dipshit teenager. Sorry your panties got in a twist.
Honestly a great way to show why dividing by zero is undefined
Honestly, no. It should be louder! With a slapping hand
It really isn't though. What is probably happening is the mechanical calculator equivalent of an integer overflow so the calculator's solution is actually just that it's infinite.
@@Toonox Exactly, that's why its great. It will count until it reaches its limit or you stop it.
I only really got it because of the Animations vs Math animation, where the stickman tries to divide by zero and zero gets subtracted infinitely from the original number, nobody actually bothers to explain why and it's kind of dumb how easy it is.
It rather shows that this is not a number, but infinity, but this is not the correct answer, given the usual rules of algebra. It's just a meaningless expression that only gives a definite answer in useless structures. Is it really not clear without this device that you can subtract 0 from any number an infinite number of times and still not come to an answer?
This calculator took 'Never quit trying' too seriously😂😂
I used to have one of these when I was a kid -- I have no idea where I got it from but my buddy and I had a blast playing with it.
Wow, I didn't know these things existed. That's such a cool machine!
There’s all kinds of neat mechanical calculators. Look up the Curta pepper grinder. It’s wild.
same!
They are so cool
@@nutbastardwhy is this reply held for review
@@SeliGames-mu2ob Math is considered a science, which, as you know, is against the YT community guidelines.
A late 1960s Victor 10-key printing calculator ( sorry I don’t know the model) would literally run forever if you attempted division by zero. To clear it you had to unplug it, remove the case, manually release interlocks to allow you to move the operation lever from division to addition and plug it back in. This was a serious design flaw.
I discovered this because my mother taught high school bookkeeping when I was in elementary school. Each day after school I would go to her classroom and at least once a week one of her students had locked up the calculator. Being the nerd I was (and still am), I learned to reset it so she didn’t have to call the repairman.
I also learned to do minor repairs on Underwood typewriters. :)
You have a bright future before you... in a technology museum.
What is a underwood calculator
@@aumoelwal8375 From Wikipedia
The Underwood Typewriter Company was an American manufacturer of typewriters headquartered in New York City, with manufacturing facilities in Hartford, Connecticut. Underwood produced what is considered the first widely successful, modern typewriter. By 1939, Underwood had produced five million machines.
That is honestly the best niche skill I’ve heard, like truly amazing 💯
Neato
this is so cool! I've never seen a mechanical calculator. Awesome to see discrete calculations happening in real time, not so instantaneous as today's calculators. Thank you for sharing with the world.
I was expecting the thing to just explode. Amazing craftsmanship behind that contraption
50+ years ago I played with one of these calculators in my high school's business department. It's really hard to see how wonderful this device was. This was at least a couple of years before HP came out with the first hand held calculuator.
The fact that when you divide by zero it never stops makes perfect sense. It divides by repeatively subtracting.
I didn't even know that Harry Potter made calculators!
I guess they have a lot of hit points?
what year are you in now? I mean, how old are you?
@@realheckertrustmebro 68
@@EdKolisclearly you weren't paying attention and spent all of your action points this turn on that crumby joke; it could have 1 hp and the resulting infinite barrage of -0 would never deplete the health bar.
{{{{{CRITICAL HIT}}}}}
Thank you. Not too many people make videos to the point anymore. Keep rocking!
there is an entire side of youtube dedicated to short videos that get straight to the point
@@kulled took 2 damn years to be corrected, damn
The calculator went like "hold my beer... gonna find the answer" 😂
my aunt was an accountant way back in the day (or something to do with numbers, i dont remember). she had one of these. i was always fascinated by this machine every time i saw it as a kid
can we just appreciate that this video isnt 10 minutes long with NordVPN as a sponsor and whatnot but instead straight to the point?
this is how all of youtube used to be in ye olden times, just people uploading whatever the hell for fun instead of trying to monetize everything
If this is uploaded by a "science" youtuber, you'll have:
Questions as a title..
0:00-8:30 explaining the history of math
8:30-13:50 story about the inventor
13:50-14:12 explaining the functions of the machine
14:12-14:14 finally shows what the title is about
14:14-14:25 explaining what happens
14:25-12:26 "like, comment, and subscribe"
Oh, and as a bonus, the video would have 2 ads
@@faisfaizal5194 I expect them to ask to upvote the video and subscribe just after the intro logo and at least 1 advertisement.
Get sponsorblocker addon.
LOL
This feels like a beautifully demonstrated example of overflow, when the resultant number is bigger than the bits allow and the most significant digit(s) get cut off.
0:32 dude wait, let it cook
TH-cam randomly recommending this is pure Magic
just remove the 'div stop' lever, plug in a rechargable battery, you have a smaller motor.
No need to remove the lever, just don't use it until you need to stop it
like actually ?!
@@HalfBreadOrderNo, mech calculators were hand cranked or electric.
@@TechSavy-je4tp what about ones that are neither
I worked that thing in the early 70's. Its called a comptometer, if I recall. In 71 or 72, the Bowmar Brain calculator came out. I got a TI calculater around 72.
I never knew these existed, fascinating piece of machinery
My brain just tells me to rip this thing apart and see how it works on the inside. I was always fascinated by how machines work and this one peaks my curiosity.
Same here bro
I'd be as interesting in learning how the individual parts were designed and machined- the prints alone probably fill a book as thick as an encyclopedia ! but, realize too the basic design concepts were developed in the 1600's- think of that
@@laszlozoltan5021 Yeah just make a Glass one where u can look inside while its working. That would be awesome
You wouldn't rip apart a microprocessor?
me but with people
Since it's mechanical, it can't issue "floating point divide exception" message so it either stops or runs forever. I think I caused one to go into a forever loop attempting that, while taking a statistics class in 1969 in college. I had to unplug the darn thing. I plugged it back in without resetting the keys and it took off from where it stopped.
I left it calculating frantically and strolled to my next class. A week later, dropped that class.
Is it just gonna run until the mechanism wears itself out and the machine stops working?
This is so much better than I expected.
Play the video in 2x, it will start sounding like a Gasoline Lawnmower 💀
wow i just googled an image of the stw-10 and the complexity is off the charts... things are so small now its hard to appreicate the complexity, but 40s-60s devices really are interesting to look at when u open them up
Because you could actually see how those things work. nowadays everything is so small you only see black boxes connected together
@@ishouldhidemynamelmao345you can tell this is the era where the available technology held back these kind of machines, or at least the people behind the making of them
@@ishouldhidemynamelmao345 great way to say it: black box
@@amnottabs you could say it is held back. but simply because we do not really need them anymore. the technology we have now far exceeds the need for mechanical calculation device. for education purposes maybe. other than that, maybe art? or just some passion project type of stuff
*Wow, I
*charts. Things
*now, it's
*appreciate
*'40s-'60s
*you
*up.
This looks like it would be incredibly satisfying to use
Machines like this are pure ASMR
first time ever seeing a calculator like this. The sound, so good.
Thank you for stepping away from the mainstream video format of initially showing a content teaser, then some form of channel intro, then another content teaser, then saying *_"but first, like and subscribe",_* and only then finally showing content.
Well done, sir.
This machine is fantastic!! Imagine the engineering that went into designing this calculator. Wish I had one to play with. I love old tech.
Imagine the intricate work and convoluted machinery that went into making this thing
Frankly it's beyond me
Boutta bring this into my calculator maths exam 🔥🔥🔥
As a software engineer student that took surface level digital logic circuits and some other non-software based engineering courses, these types of machinery working gives me a unique feeling of happiness. Engineering really has some hidden gems :)
damn, this thing could just simulate the windows xp errors, but theres no computer
Amazing calculator u got btw
the calculator wouldve helped you with your msc car i think
Just looks like any other boring machine until you open one up and realize what a marvel of engineering these things are.
My Uncle the accountant had a heavy desktop pull lever calculator from the 1930's. Dividing by zero locked the lever making completion of the act impossible. Repetitive strain injury was simply diagnosed as wimp back then.
As mathematicians argued for years, it *approaches* infinity.
EDIT: Making an edit for people who want to reply. Don't, just post your separate comment if you think it needs attention. I won't be arguing in replies, I'll just keep replying yes to you, until the reply section reaches 500 and you can't comment anymore.
EDIT 2: Nah, I won't be replying yes to everyone, if I really wanted I would write an api bot for that, but I don't want to
positive and negative infinity. This behavior is due to some way that the calculator mechanically divides
@@acbulgin2 why is 0^0 1
@@Vexcenot yeah it could be any number -inf to +inf
@@milesmartig5603 you are right , I forgot about negative infinity:)
Dividing by something that approaches zero (edited: "infinity") you gain infinity... something divided by the actual value of 0 is just... not a value. Feel free to make up a new numberspace for that tho
I freaking love this man
It’s way better than phones or digital calculator the shear feel of this is much superior
I can already sense my self playing with this if I have one 😂
How world ends:
**Mechanical calculator start diving by zero**
**that creates a black hole in the fabric of the universe**
"spagettis for everyone!!"
Looks like it enters into an endless loop of division, but because the remainder is always the number you're trying to divide by, it will never end.
I'm guessing Div Stop was put in specifically for this and repeating decimals. More than likely the latter now that I actually think about it.
Me: Whats 1/0 ?
This calculator: Achieves escape velocity
I had no idea these existed. That’s super cool!
Early in my career, I remember doing this exact thing. But I left it go on overnight . . .luckily the machine was still working in the morning! :)
The Friden STW-10 was instrumental in Doc Emmett's development of the flux capacitor, and served as an early 'keyboard' when modified for time travel in his machine. Still in use at Amtrak headquarters, BTW.
This is the white noise machine I've been looking for my entire life.
Ive always wanted these calculators. They look cool, and the keys look satisfying to click on
An old Frieden Comptometer. My mother had these in the Southern Bell accounting office because they sometimes had to manually verify or validate long-distance bills. She was a supervisor in the Bill Enclosing department and sometimes she would take me in to work with her on weekends. I did some of my homework on those beasts. Loved them. And yes, I tried the "Divide by Zero" thing once or twice. They were slow but you could easily get eight to ten digits in a quotient. In case anyone asks, Mom was with Southern Bell BEFORE the Baby Bells all merged to AT&T and then later got broken up again. Southern Bell re-emerged as BellSouth, which exists to this day.
Loved seeing this. My grandfather was Carl Friden, the inventor of this machine. His calculators are on display at the Smithsonian Museum and I also saw one in London at the British Museum. To see Friden calculators in movies check out "The Apartment" with Jack Lemon, Shirley McClain, and Fred McMurray as well as a more recent film "Hidden Figures". Never met my grandfather as he died in 1945. I was born in the 1950's.
I'm more impressed that mechanical calculator actually exists.
Also, interesting how it increases the count infinitelly.
The first consumer electronic calculators did the same thing. It was the easy way to figure out the speed of the internal clock logic.
My dad did his Ph.D work at University of Dayton in the early 1970's. A colleague of his wrote a bad program for their (whatever it was building-size computer, I'm not sure what it was) and put it into an infinite loop of dividing by zero, and blew the main fuses at the power substation for the area, causing a major blackout.
I worked as an AP clerk-trainee after HS in the early 80s, and used a Marchant SCM mechanical calulator at my desk. Many of the company officer used the SCM model and the 50s-era Marchants instead of the early Casio or TI electronic calculators.
I had no idea this type of machine existed ... I would really love to see the in inside mechanisms.
You can probably find a schematic somewhere. They weren't quite as tight-assed about hiding that kind of stuff back then.
@@plebisMaximus ... The good old days when inventers were actually enthusiastic about sharing their creations ... I will definitely look for it. Brain candy.
Well it was a lot harder to hide a bunch of gears and levers then microscopic transistors...
My Dad used to sell calculators back in the 50's -70's. I've seen so many different types of those mechanical ones. He would trade in others to sell them his brand so I saw many different brands. Back then they were really expensive so much so that he made a good middle class living for a family of four by selling them on commission. I saw all the early electronic calculators too. Dad retired in the early 80's when computers started rolling in because just wasn't interested in learning them and he had a good retirement plan so he retired early and enjoyed many years of freedom before getting sick and passing.
A youtuber named, curious marc has videos on mechanical calculators.
That calculator is BEAUTIFUL! And the sounds, OOOOHOHOHOOH they're so SATISFYING. this is going in a bookmark for sure.
Wow! Haven’t seen one of these in years. I learned to use one of these in my high school bookkeeping classes in the 1970’s. Never saw one actually used, though.
that’s a pretty cool error code. rather than “couldn’t do it” it actually tried in its own way. wonder if thats a viable way to relube parts
The (only) instructions on the users manual:
Never! divide by zero:
Such a unique old-fashioned mechanically mathematical contraption indeed!
It never mattered until this moment.
That was award winning.
In order to create an engine, you only need to divide by zero on one of those things? Genius
only diesel
For everyone curious about the inner mechanisms, I highly recommend Adam Savage’s video in which they CT scan his Curta Calculator! It’s by no means a perfect comparison, but you get to see a really interesting view of the mechanics, along with a look into the scanning process. Plus it has none of the second-hand stress of wondering if they can put it back together😅
Adam savage 🤢
Back in the day when I first heard about the Curta, I looked up what they were going for online. Couldn't afford the few hundred $$$ that seemed to be the usual asking price. Now that I can afford a few hundred $$$ to spend on one, the usual asking price is over a thousand......
the comment above yours literally says they want to rip it open to see how it works
@@JimMilton-ej6ziwhat did he do
I had no idea such a machine existed. Wonderful!
as a kid i never understood why you couldnt divide by zero. in my head during math work involving division i would think "ok take how many "3's" can i get out of 9 or something along those lines and i probably just subconciously subtracted them. but i always ended up thinking x/0 should just be 0 cause you take no 'pieces' out of the number. i see now that i had it backwards and its really how many 0's can i take out of 1 which is infinite!
When I started working at AiResearch in 1977, there were still a bunch of these around. No longer being used, just around.
This man still appreciates comments of his video after 2 years. Respect
Perhaps he's genuinely interested in what he makes his videos about and thus want to know what people are thinking. :)
Been AGES since I have seen 1 of the FRIDEN rotary calcs! We had 2 in the company where I worked!
The fact that I was equally prepared for a meme edit as I was for just this probably means that I have consumed too much internet for a lifetime.
I knew that was going to happen, because it was the first thing which popped into my head when I first saw one at the offices where my dad worked.... "Oh, cool, you've still got a mechanical calculator, will you show me how it works?". Then, once I got the hang of it, I tried it and it got stuck in a similar loop.
This is so cool. I like looking at the materials these things are made out of cause they seem so much more resilient than modern tech.
Except they’re pretty finicky and can jam easily if not maintained
Why’d you stop it? Bro was cooking up some juicy answers to life
It kind of does make sense, because by dividing dividends with numbers that are closer to zero quotients will increase progressively (for instance by dividing 100 to 0.1 we will get 1000 and by dividing 100 to 0.01 we will get 10000).And theoretically when dividing by zero we will get infinity (it's not quite right because zero is not positive and nor negative and in result of dividing by zero we should get positive and negative infinities at the same time), but even so ,as we can see mechanical calculator tries to reach max number but after reaching 9-th digit it all resets to zero.
Imagine just walking into this room just to hear a mechanical calculator dropping the hardest beat ever
*casually opens a new dimension*
Brings back memories! Makes me want to pull out my slide rule!
I worked retailing as a young man in the late 60's and early 70's and saw something similar on my boss's desk. It wasn't long after that the first crude handheld electronic calculators were marketed. I remember owing an orange colored handheld with an LED readout that did not have a floating decimal available. Ah, the memories!
Watching this i got some "Turing's-machine-is-cracking-Enigma-codes" vibes.
Teacher: calculators are not allowed in the exam.
Me: under the table...
This is basically what it feels like to accidentally run an infinite loop in a programming language.
It not only has a personality, it has a mind on its own and a determined one!
This is beautiful piece of engineering
The sounds are soo satisfying to hear
Makes perfect sense. Why worry about whether you can ever finish your quest when you can just... _go_ for it and see where it takes you? This is some true _"the journey is the goal"_ approach in action.
Man, I need this, I mean I NEED THIS. It can makes me more excited in mathematics.
Where does it get its power from?
Is it powered by electricity or is it purely mechanical
It has an electric motor that powers all the mechanics!
Its powered by math
It get its power from all mathematicians minds around the world
it uses gun powder, bio diesel, and a crank.. just hear the sound 😅
@@dmath1490i don’t care what the real answer is, this is now the real answer
Mechanical adding machines used to cost a couple month’s pay. If it could divide, it was worth about a year’s pay.
They all needed oil applied to all those rotating and sliding parts, every few months, to keep them alive. Oldest one I lubed (3x per year) was built before 1900.
Olivetti made a very expensive machine that could mechanically calculate square roots, but I only ever saw one, in a machine “graveyard” about 1977. By then you could do the job electronically for a few weeks’ salary. By early-1980’s school kids could get handhelds to do square roots for $10
Friden also made the SRQ model which cost about $1400 in 1964 which could do automatic square roots, they’re very rare now!