EC
ZeroDivisionError
RubyERRORNotableMath

Integer division by zero

Quick Answer

Guard divisors with a zero check before dividing, or use Float arithmetic when infinity is an acceptable result.

What this means

Raised when an integer is divided by zero. Note that Float division by zero does not raise this error — it returns Float::INFINITY or NaN instead.

Why it happens
  1. 1Dividing an integer by a variable that evaluates to zero
  2. 2Modulo operation (%) with a zero divisor
  3. 3Computed denominators in financial or statistical code

Fix

Guard divisor before dividing

Guard divisor before dividing
def safe_divide(a, b)
  return 0 if b.zero?
  a / b
end

Why this works

b.zero? returns true when b == 0, preventing the division from executing.

Code examples
Reproducing the errorruby
10 / 0
# ZeroDivisionError: divided by 0
Float division returns Infinityruby
10.0 / 0   # => Infinity  (no error)
0.0 / 0    # => NaN      (no error)
Rescue ZeroDivisionErrorruby
begin
  result = numerator / denominator
rescue ZeroDivisionError
  result = 0
end
Sources
Official documentation ↗

Ruby Core Documentation

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