# What is the percent increase from 0 to 19?

Jun 4, 2016

Your solution to this question needs a lot of forethought. Se what I have written in the 'Explanation'.

#### Explanation:

There is a trap in this question!

What you normally have is $\left(\text{difference original to new")/("original}\right) \times 100$

The problem is that the original is 0 and mathematically you are not allowed to have 0 as a denominator. This condition is called 'undefined'

So $\frac{19 - 0}{0} \times 100$ is undefined
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suppose you had instead: $\left(\text{difference original to new")/("new}\right)$

This would give: 19/19xx100 = 100%

You now have a permitted value but again there is a problem as in

100%" of "0 = 0

Jun 4, 2016

same as tony's, see explanation

#### Explanation:

just wanted to add that when you increase something by multiplication (which is implied in the original question) you need numbers bigger than zero. increasing 1 five times gives you 5, however anything multiplied by zero is always zero so starting at zero and increasing it will never give you 19.