
Ask HN: Why does OS X Spotlight's calculator assert N/0 = N? - whelchel
Perhaps a trivial question, but I think it&#x27;s interesting how digital devices handle mathematical inconsistencies&#x2F;absurdities.<p>I can&#x27;t say I&#x27;ve seen this sort of &quot;screw it&quot; approach before. Anyone out there know why this is the case with Mac?<p>If anyone is curious, the &quot;Calculator&quot; app returns quite considerately, &quot;Not a number&quot;, so they don&#x27;t seem to be run by the same engine. I also tried in spotlight with 0.0 to see if it was a float&#x2F;int distinction, but no dice.<p>Note I&#x27;m running 10.10.5 (Yosemite)
======
kogir
Doesn't do that for me:
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/t3igrnerpzu26gn/Screenshot%202017-...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/t3igrnerpzu26gn/Screenshot%202017-03-23%2002.26.18.png?dl=0)

macOS Sierra

------
0942v8653
Apple's Spotlight calculators have had worse problems:
[http://i.imgur.com/UMYtIDi.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/UMYtIDi.jpg)

------
andreygrehov
I think it doesn't do anything TBH. The N was simply the last successful
output as you were typing.

