0^t
- To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
- Subject: 0^t
- From: gafox at convx1.ccit.arizona.edu (Gordon A. Fox)
- Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1993 08:53:37 -0700
Dear Mathgroup, The following exchange between myself and Courtney Johnson at WRI clarified something that bothered me, and may well bother others. . . . Gordon A. Fox (gafox at convx1.ccit.arizona.edu) Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 ********************************************************************* Mma is now generating output for me that includes terms like 0^t, and it doesn't simplify these to 0. In fact, if I simply enter "0^t" or even N[0^t], the output is "0^t". Is there a way to fix this so I don't have to search my output and make the substitution 0^t->0?? Gordon A. Fox ********************************************************************* This is useful in some cases when, for instance, a person would try to evaluate 0^0, which is not necessarily equal to 0. So it is incorrect, mathematically speaking, to evaluate to 0. In any case, if you would like it to function so that 0^t, where t is any number, then you can do so with the following lines: Unprotect[Power] Power[0,t_] = 0 Protect[Power] Please remember to change this back if you are finished and are not needing that functionality anymore if you think that there is a possibility in the future of your session that you will not want it to automatically evaluate to 0. Thank you for your continued interest in Mathematica. Sincerely, Courtney Johnson Technical Support *********************************************************************