## anonymous 3 years ago When and why is 0^2 = 1?

1. slaaibak

nope, 0

2. anonymous

$$0\times 0=0$$

3. slaaibak

@wildchild9090 however, 2^0 = 1

4. anonymous

I'd say the answer is "never". Zero times zero is equal to zero. Zero times zero will never equal 1. Hope that's helpful! :-)

5. anonymous

Oh oops, yes my bad :P. Thanks guys.

6. anonymous

so is 0^0 0 or 1?

7. anonymous

Any number to the "0" power is 1.

8. anonymous

Trye say.

9. anonymous

Thanks guys

10. anonymous

This is one of those argumentative type questions that can make math seem inaccessible to us regular folks. :-) Some say that any number to a zero power is one, so zero to the zero power should be one. But others focus on the rule that zero to any power is zero, so zero to the zero power should be zero. I'm assuming you're just in a regular math class. I'm not a math expert, but I lean toward the first position, that a number to the zero power is one, because that's just a more useful rule to apply to numbers in general. I wouldn't lose sleep over it and I hope your class and instructor aren't either! Just do as best you can on whatever math you're working on. Personally, I think it's esoteric debates like these that makes some people unnecessarily fearful or practical math.

11. anonymous

Nah not too worried about it, was just working on finding some limits, and came across a situtation where I wasnt sure if I should use L'Hospitals or not.

12. anonymous

Either way I made the mistake of assuming 0^1 is 1 as well.

13. anonymous

0^2*

14. anonymous

Thanks for the help again.