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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

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