0^0

From: Ben Crain <bcrain@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 02:57:22 GMT

It appears to me that the most appropriate way to define 0^0 is exactly the same as x^0, for any nonzero x, namely, 1. I note that many hand calculators report 0^0 as "undefined" or "indeterminate". I don't hold that against them -- they are designed for practical use, and I can't imagine a practical use in which 0^0 would ever arise. More sophisticated software packages, however, must take a stand on 0^0. According to my tests: Maple reports 0^0 = 1, Matlab reports 0^0 = 1, but Mathematica reports 0^0 = indeterminate. That distresses me, since I'm a big fan of Mathematica. Why is Mathematica the odd-man-out on this one? Are they justified in being so?

yours in mathematical trivia,
Ben Crain
.

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Re: 0^0
... > the same as x^0, for any nonzero x, namely, 1. ... > but Mathematica reports 0^0 = indeterminate. ... > I'm a big fan of Mathematica. ... that applies to limit expressions, ...
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Re: 0^0
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