Re: indeterminate expression
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg37606] Re: indeterminate expression
- From: "David W. Cantrell" <DWCantrell at sigmaxi.org>
- Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2002 06:54:10 -0500 (EST)
- References: <aq874p$e6e$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
"MH" <petronius at myrealbox.com> wrote: > Hi, as part of a long combinatoric code, I need to calculate lots of p^n > values. The problem arises when p=n=0. Such an expression is > indeterminate obviously, I agree with that statement _only_ because this newsgroup concerns Mathematica, in which 0^0 is indeed called Indeterminate. However, many mathematicians (including myself) take 0^0 to be 1. See, for example, the article "What is 0^0?" at <http://db.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/math-faq/node40.html>. Furthermore, some other computer algebra systems (in this newsgroup, I'm not supposed to name them, if I understand correctly) consider 0^0 to be 1. Note that of course the _limit form_ 0^0 is indeterminate. No question about that. But we are not concerned with a limit form here; rather, we are concerned with just the arithmetic expression 0^0. > but since it is part of a probability > calculation, the probability that something with 0 probability occuring 0 > times is 1. Is there a rule that I can specify that would allow me to > replace this indeterminate express with the answer that I want? As to this good question of yours, I'll defer to those more experienced with Mathematica. I'll be interested in their answers. Ultimately however, I would like to see 0^0 = 1 by default in Mathematica. David Cantrell -- -------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ -------------------- Usenet Newsgroup Service