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Math Forum » Discussions » sci.math.* » sci.math

Topic: Could 0^0=0? Maybe!
Replies: 10   Last Post: Sep 27, 2013 7:54 PM

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Richard Tobin

Posts: 1,274
Registered: 12/6/04
Re: Could 0^0=0? Maybe!
Posted: Sep 26, 2013 5:10 AM
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In article <b63a9e66-57b3-45f7-a1b6-5adcd9700978@googlegroups.com>,
Dan Christensen <Dan_Christensen@sympatico.ca> wrote:

>Many designers of programming languages assume that 0^0=1.

Do you have any evidence that they "assume" this, rather than
investigating it and making a reasoned decision?

Designers of current programming languages may follow IEEE 754, which
defines three power functions. pown(x,y) is defined for integral exponents
only, and has pown(0,0) = 1, which avoids many special cases. powr(x,y)
is defined as exp(y log(x)) so naturally has powr(0,0) raise an
exception. The generic pow(x,y) has pow(0,0) = 1.

-- Richard

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