Before I answer this\u00a0math question, let me ask you to stay in the Ben Casey mind, and reach back into your memory to elementary or middle school math, when you learned about exponents.<\/p>\n
Remember the basic concept? A number squared means to multiply the number by itself.<\/p>\n
Do you remember that it also means 1<\/em>\u00a0times the number times the number?<\/p>\n That’s an important detail, and one that I had definitely forgotten, if indeed I ever learned it that way.<\/p>\n Because any nonzero<\/em> number to the zero<\/em> power equals 1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That’s right. Exponents – theoretically – always start with multiplying by 1. And so the 0\u00a0power is always just 1.<\/p>\n OK. So back to the original question. What is 0\u00a0to the 0\u00a0power?<\/p>\n Some said\u00a00, some said\u00a01.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I was absolutely astonished to learn tonight that it was only in 1992<\/a> that this dispute tipped in favor of the answer being 1<\/a>. What! Math can change<\/em>??<\/span><\/p>\n It seems so fundamental. And yet, 0^0\u00a0was undefined.<\/p>\n Even with the simplest of mathematical statements – zero to the zero power! What could be simpler? – there is not complete agreement. The meaning of 0^0 is, in some circles, dependent on context and is\u00a0a matter of \u00a0mathematical\u00a0debate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Math is not divorced from reality. \u00a0As Tom’s father used to explain to his students, there’s even\u00a0math when you go to the\u00a0toilet. You are creating\u00a0an arc, a trajectory.<\/p>\n Math is not theoretical. It is real, and they are real people who have arguments<\/a> about it.<\/p>\n What is 0\u00a0to the 0\u00a0power?<\/p>\n For me this question is incredibly profound – and incredibly beautiful.<\/p>\n Day 124, the\u00a0penny is from the year 2*(10^3).<\/p>\n Or, hmmmmmm … maybe it should be from 2001?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is zero to the zero power? If you’re like me, you might\u00a0flash on the introduction to the old Ben Casey TV series. A hand wrote\u00a0on a chalkboard\u00a0the symbols for “man, woman, birth, death, infinity,” while the narrator somberly recited those words. Even at the age of five, I knew this was something heavy and … read more No power<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[321],"tags":[84,450,446,452,451,20,449],"class_list":["post-6161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tress","tag-84","tag-exponents","tag-math","tag-numbers","tag-one","tag-tom","tag-zero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6167,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6161\/revisions\/6167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"zero](\"http:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/zero-zero-1024x710.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Day](\"http:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Day-124-2000.jpg\")
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