Funsize: A Sketchblog

When I was little, my dad formulated an argument about dividing by one:
Take a donut. Cut it in one spot. It is neither a donut, nor two halves of a donut. Therefore n/1 != n. He never really specified what dividing by one did.
Today I think I finally figured out why I disagreed with him.
In elementary school most children are taught to regard division as grouping--which is what it is, really. If you take a group of people and divide it in two, you dont cut every person in half.
So take your donut. Put it in one group.
You have one group of one donut.
Therefore, n/1 = n.

Further, why is it necessary to cut the donut at all? And, if you decided to divide it once more
(n/1)/1 = ?
Would you cut the donut in the same place, or somewhere else on the donut at random? Then you would be left with two most-likely uneven bits of donut, which, no matter how you regard math, is no form of dividing by one whatsoever.
Either way, if you decided cutting the donut was necessary, it is still one donut. An interrupted donut, yes, but the donut in quantity has not been altered. It's just semantics.
Therefore, his arguments are completely baseless (I spent hours thinking about this)!

Relevant doodles:
Admon, infectious need,