WHAT?! You didn't divide by zero, did you?

Recently in TeamDesk blog I’ve stumbled on post about divide by zero and couldn’t help but check if there is a stark contrast handling it in different web-based systems. My aim is to find out what tactic each vendor uses through a quick test.

So, in each system I will use the same example. Let’s input 2 numbers A and B, divide one by another and see what happens when divide by zero.


I am kicking off with TeamDesk, the instigator of the test:


The system correctly displays the result division by zero happened.

What about Dabble DB?


One can see a blank as result. We have the same situation with QuickBase:


In Zoho Creator Divide by Zero results in 0:


In TrackVia we have blank as the result, and the system explaines in the field history that divide by zero occurs:


And, finally, WorkXpress. The system recognized divide by zero happened, but couldn’t handle it well:


Conclusion:

In general systems are capable of managing the issue somehow. I don’t think it’s a good idea to deliver 0 as a result of division by zero as Zoho Creator does. Not everything is clear with WorkXpress in this case. I wonder if it’s normal reaction of the system to any error or just to division by zero.