Puzzle 66 - solution
The question was
What is wrong with this proof ?
a=b
multiply both the sides by a --1
a2 = ab
a2 = ab
add -b2 to both the side --2
a2-b2 =ab-b2
factorizing --3
(a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b)
(a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b)
divide both the sides by (a-b) ---4
a+b=b
Substituting a with b, ---5
2b = b
2b = b
Dividing both the sides by b ---6
2 = 1
The problem is with step 4. When a is equal to b, a-b is zero. You can not divide numbers by zero because division is only defined for non-zero numbers.
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