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Re: redefining 0^0 for BinomialDistribution?

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  • Subject: [mg9345] Re: [mg9317] redefining 0^0 for BinomialDistribution?
  • From: seanross at worldnet.att.net
  • Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 03:33:31 -0500
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

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.


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