A lazy insect's friend am I
My teeth are what you know me byOft mistaken for my cousin
Look close - she's fat while I am thinI know that I'm not worthy of leading
Except sometimes in the early morningYet my siblings appreciate when
I am standing right beside themIf at a cross purpose we should appear
Either they or I would disappearAnd when I rise alone up above
Then shall they all become one, and how!But don't you try to put me down
For consequences untold abound
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1$\begingroup$ "None of your business!" $\endgroup$– Pikamander2Apr 16, 2016 at 20:52
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1 Answer
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You are...
Zero.
Explanations:
A lazy insect's friend am I/ My teeth are what you know me by
In Beetle Bailey comics, bucktoothed (also lazy) Private Zero is lazy Private Beetle's barracks mate and good friend.
Oft mistaken for my cousin/ Look close - she's fat while I am thin
I look like the letter O, but am written slightly skinnier
I know that I'm not worthy of leading/ Except sometimes in the early morning
Numbers are generally not written with a leading 0 (because a leading 0 is worthless), but in a 24-hour clock, you might report an early-morning time as "0800 hours".
Yet my siblings appreciate when/ I am standing right beside them
Putting a 0 to the right of other numbers increases their value (i.e. they appreciate).
If at a cross purpose we should appear/ Either they or I would disappear
Multiplying a number by zero makes it disappear, and adding it to zero makes the zero disappear. Both operations can be represented by crosses.
And when I rise alone up above/ Then shall they all become one, and how!
Raising something to the power of zero makes it one.
But don't you try to put me down/ For consequences untold abound
You can't put 0 in the bottom of a fraction because that's dividing by zero (the result of which is undefined or infinite).
Without a difference
Zero can mean "no difference"
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$\begingroup$ I suspect that the freind of a lazy insect is a "zero", or someone who can make even a lazy insect look good in comparison (i.e. a foil) - and this is reinforced by the second line (zero has no teeth, thus it's not intimidating, compared to anything) $\endgroup$ Apr 17, 2016 at 0:51
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1$\begingroup$ "Without a difference" probably refers to the fact that the riddle references all the main arithmetic operations except subtraction. Great riddle and solution! $\endgroup$– user17947Apr 17, 2016 at 3:33
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$\begingroup$ That was a quick reply @histocrat! Good work with the first couplet, @humn! $\endgroup$ Apr 18, 2016 at 5:04