Why does a number powered to 0 = 1?

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Anything multiplied by 0 is 0 right so why does x number raised to the power of 0 = 1? isnt it x^0 = x*0 (im turning grade 10 and i asked my teacher about this he told me its because its just what he was taught 💀)

In: Mathematics

42 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

X^1 = X

X^2 = X * X

X^3 = X * X * X

To get up, you multiply by X.

So, to get down, you divide by X.

X^1 = X

X^0 = X / X = 1

Anonymous 0 Comments

There’s a pattern of multiplication and division with exponents. 5^3 is 5x5x5. 5^2 is 5×5. 5^1 is 5. We’re dividing by 5 each time, so 5^0 is…1. This happens with any whole number. Divide again. 1/5 = 5^-1. 5^-2 = 1/5^2.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because when you go below the power of 1 it becomes a division rather than a multiplication. So where x¹ is just the base value of x, when you go to x⁰ you are dividing x by itself. A number divided by itself is always 1.

Anonymous 0 Comments

2^3 = 2 x 2 x 2 = 8

2^2 = 2 x 2 = 4

2^1 = 2

2^0 = 2/2 = 1

Notice that each time you decrease the exponent by 1, you’re effectively dividing by the base number, since to remove a multiplication operation you must divide. Once you get to an exponent of 0, you’re simply just dividing by the base number, which always equals 1

Anonymous 0 Comments

If X^2 = X*X.

X^2 = X^1 * X^1 <=> X^1+1 .

X^2 / X^1 = X^1 * X^1 / X^1 <=> X^2-1 = X^1 .

X = X

So far so good, powers work and we showed that X^-1 = 1/X, as well as X^a * X^b = X^a+b

Then

X = X <=> X^1 * X^-1 = X^1 * X^-1 <=> X^1-1 = X/X.

X^0 = 1.

Anonymous 0 Comments

No, x^0 has nothing to do with x*0. Think about the powers of 2

2^1 = 2
2^2 = 4
2^3 = 8
2^4 = 16

The exponent is the number of twos in that multiplication. What would make this work if there were _zero_ twos? 1, as in

1 = 1
1 * 2 = 2
1 * 2 * 2 =4
1 * 2 *2 * 2=8

Etc. also, remember that negative exponents cause you to put a 1/ over the result, as in:

2^-1 = 1/2
2^-2 = 1/4

If you start with the higher powers and go down, you’ll see it’s like dividing by 2, and it will be easy to see what should go there:

32
16
8
4
2
?????
1/2
1/4
1/8
1/16
1/32

Anonymous 0 Comments

x^(3) = x * x * x

x^(2) = x * x

x^(3) = x * x^(2)

Right?

Written in general

x^(n) = x * x^((n-1))

So then, applying the above logic

x^(1) = x * x^(0) , zero being (1-1)

If x^(0) was zero then x^(1) would also be zero.

Anonymous 0 Comments

This math teacher explains it in a really cool (and ELI5) way: https://youtu.be/X32dce7_D48?si=KHWgVDY2U5NRkhpN

Anonymous 0 Comments

[I like the Wikipedia explanation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponentiation)

From the *definition* of exponentiation you get a rule that makes a lot of sense and then use algebra to demonstrate a rule that is less apparent.

So your instructor was right. He was told what it was. He just didn’t bother to remember the demonstration.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Ok so
x^0 = x^(n-n), since n-n is of course = 0

Know, for properties of however those are called in English, I think exponentials, x^a / x^b = x^(a-b)

So you can now imagine how
x^0 = x^(n-n) = x^n / x^n =

Since a number divided by himself is 1

x^0 = x^(n-n) = x^n / x^n = 1

EDIT:
You can now interrogate yourself on how
x^a / x^b = x^(a-b)
Since x^a means you will multiply x for it self a times, you will get a thing like
x^4 / x^3 = (x x x x) / (x x x) = x = x^1 = x^(4-3)