Proof That 0 = 1?

Algebra Level 1

The following steps appear to give equivalent equations, which seem to prove that 1 = 0. Find the step that contains the error.

x = 1 GIVEN x^{2} = x MULTIPLY BY x x^{2} - x = 0 SUBTRACT x x(x-1) = 0 FACTOR x = 0 DIVIDE BY x-1 1 = 0 Given x = 1

FACTOR MULTIPLY BY x DIVIDE BY x-1 SUBTRACT x

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1 solution

Justin Tuazon
Dec 8, 2014

x=1, so x-1=0 and you cannot divide by x-1 since x-1=0

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