Divisibility by ZERO

If I but divide one whole
The larger my bottom
A smaller piece feeds me!
The smaller my bottom
Greater numbers of pieces eye see
My slice is so thin
I cannot see
At none I know not that number they be

This exercise may be a good one, but, I found it took much longer to do than I estimated. With time limited, the quality of the poem may be less, however the thinking should be more.

Before the exercise of writing begins I think that one should go over some numerical patterns with the group of students to see that there understanding of what is happening is going in the right direction.

1/2 to 1/3 to 1/4 to ... 1/n where n gets very large then the result will become ___________ .

and 1/(1/2) = _____ 1/(1/3) = ______ 1/(1/4) = ____ and .... 1/n = _________

when n goes to zero.

Any exercise that gets students to think and use there knowledge to understand a process to arrive at an answer to a problem is a useful exercise.