Empty product

In mathematics, the empty product, or nullary product, is the result of multiplying no numbers. Its numerical value is one, just as the empty sum -- the sum of no numbers -- is zero. This fact is useful in combinatorics, algebra (in particular, in connection with the binomial theorem), set theory, and in the study of power series. Two often-seen instances are a⁰ = 1 (any number raised to the power of zero is one) and 0! = 1 (the factorial of zero is one).

An important special case: When is 0⁰ equal to 1, and when is it not?

(Skip this paragraph if you want to get immediately into the justification of the proposition that the product of no numbers is 1.) Some accounts say that any non-zero number raised to the power of zero is one. This point is somewhat context-dependent. If f(x) and g(x) both approach 0 from above as x approaches some number, then f(x)^g(x) may approach some number other than one, or fail to converge. In that sense, 0⁰ is an indeterminate form. But if the plane curve along which the ordered pair (f(x),g(x)) moves through the positive quadrant towards (0,0) is bounded away from tangency to either of the two coordinate axes, then the limit is necessarily one. Thus it may be said that in a sense, the limit is almost always one. (In particular, if the functions f and g are analytic, then the value will converge to one, unless f is identically zero.)

However, for the purposes of discrete mathematics, as well as power series, one should take 0⁰ = 1. From the discrete point of view, the number n^m is the cardinality of the set of functions from a set of size m into a set of size n. If both sets are empty, then there is just one such mapping: the empty function. From the power-series point of view, identities such as

$e^{0}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {0^{n}}{n!}}={\frac {0^{0}}{0!}}+{\frac {0^{1}}{1!}}+{\frac {0^{2}}{2!}}+{\frac {0^{3}}{3!}}+\cdots$

are not valid unless 0⁰, which appears in the numerator of the first term of such series, is 1. A striking instance is the fact that the Poisson distribution with expectation 0 concentrates probability 1 at 0. That does not agree with the usual formula for the probability mass function of the Poisson distribution unless 0⁰ = 1.

A justification (but not the only one)

Imagine a calculator that can only multiply. It has an "ENTER" key and a "CLEAR" key. If "21" is displayed, and "4" is entered, then the display will show "84", since 21 × 4 = 84. If one wants to know the value of

3 × 7 × 4,

then one presses "CLEAR"; then enters "3"; then enters "7"; then enters 4. One hopes then to see "84" displayed.

What number must then appear just after "CLEAR" alone has been pressed? It is tempting to say "0", by analogy with conventional calculators. But if "0" is displayed, then after "3" is entered, the display will show the product of 0 and 3, so it will show "0"; and then when "7" is entered, it will again show "0"; and then when "4" is entered it will likewise show "0", rather than "84". Only if "1" is displayed after "CLEAR" has been pressed, will the calculator perform as advertised. Therefore, when no numbers have been multiplied, the product is 1.

External link

• sci.math FAQ: What is 0⁰?