Re: redefining 0^0 for BinomialDistribution?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg9348] Re: [mg9317] redefining 0^0 for BinomialDistribution?
- From: "Theodore C. Belding" <Ted.Belding at umich.edu>
- Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 03:33:34 -0500
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Yes, obviously I know that in general 0^0 is not always equal to 1, and
I know that the brute force method of forcing 0^0 := 1 isn't ideal.
That's *why* I'm asking whether there's a better way for the special
case of 0^0 in the binomial distribution below, where I *do* know that
it is 1. -Ted
At 8:53 PM -0500 10/27/97, seanross at worldnet.att.net wrote:
>Theodore C. Belding wrote:
>>
>> When I try to evaluate something like Table[
>> PDF[BinomialDistribution[a,s i/(a+ (s-1)i)],j],{i,0,a},{j,0,a}] in
>> Mathematica, I get errors similar to Power::indet: Indeterminate
>> expression 0^0 encountered.
>>
>> I'm redefining 0^0 to 1 using
>> In[9]:= Unprotect[Power]
>> In[10]:= Power[0,0] := 1
>> In[11]:= Protect[Power]
>>
>> Is there a better way to get around this problem? Thanks! -Ted
>>
>> --
>> Ted Belding Ted.Belding at umich.edu
>> University of Michigan Program for the Study of Complex Systems
>> http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~streak/
>
>0^0 IS indeterminate. Only the Limit of something that is of the form
>0^0 would evaluate to zero or 1 etc. Perhaps you could use a Limit
>command. If there really is a 0^0, I certainly wouldn't set it equal to
>1 without thinking about it very carefully.
--
Ted Belding Ted.Belding at umich.edu
University of Michigan Program for the Study of Complex Systems
http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~streak/