eli5: why is x⁰ = 1 instead of non-existent?

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It kinda doesn’t make sense.
x¹= x

x² = x*x

x³= x*x*x

etc…

and even with negative numbers you’re still multiplying the number by itself

like (x)-² = 1/x² = 1/(x*x)

In: 1797

38 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Disclaimer: I don’t think that this will elif, but it may still help.

*x = x^1 = x^0+1 = x^0 * x^1 = x^0 * x*.

So we have that

*x = x^0 * x*.

Divide both sides by *x* to get that

*1 = x^0 .*

I should note that we assume that *x* is not zero, but I don’t think that’s important for this explanation

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