Comments on: App Review: Math Ref for iPhone

By: materace lateksowe

materace lateksowe — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 08:55:08 +0000

Dobrze napisane będe tu częsciej zaglądał.

By: materace lateksowe

materace lateksowe — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 08:50:48 +0000

Tylko tak dalej, rozwijaj się i pisz tak dalej ciekawie.

By: Happy Maau

Happy Maau — Sat, 30 May 2009 10:22:05 +0000

That’s a great idea llofte. We’ll put some of that info into the tapping screen. Again thanks for the review and wonderful ideas.

By: llofte

llofte — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:53:47 +0000

As far as I understand, this 0^0 being undefined or equaling 1 is debated in the different disciplines of mathematics. The combinatorical argument you gave is the one I’ve always heard to argue that it equals 1, which makes perfect sense in a counting situation. You are speaking as an analyst; I believe an algebraist would would have some argument that “clearly” showed that 0^0 is undefined. The classic (albeit week) argument I’ve heard is that a^0=1 and 0^a=0, so what’s 0^0? – you can more formally look at the limits of x^0 and 0^x as x approaches 0 from the right.

I’m still a baby in my mathematical career, but I do tend to fall for the argument that 0^0=1. But in calculus, students learn that 0^0 is in indeterminate form when taking limits, so I think for the sake of a math reference app, it’s best to view 0^0 as such. However, I do think it would be cool to include information about the debate on this topic when tapping for more info.

By: Rick Taylor

Rick Taylor — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:34:23 +0000

I'm a mathematician, and I have no idea why elementary texts insist on saying that zero to the power of zero is undefined. Any analyst will tell you that zero to the zero is one. If one doesn't make this convention, then the general formula for a power series or even a general polynomial, sum of n from 0 to infinity of a_n times x^n, is messed up; one has to make a special case for n=0, which is inconvenient and silly. 0^0=1 is also correct from the viewpoint of combinatorics; how many functions are there from the empty to set to the empty set? Exactly one; the empty function.

True, defining 0^0 to be 1 makes the function x^y discontinuous at that point, but it's still advantageous.

By: Will Hansen

Will Hansen — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:03:26 +0000

Come check out my site for great reviews of new and old iPhone apps!

By: Rene Ritchie

Rene Ritchie — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:38:35 +0000

Dang, I messed up the screenshots. Can’t tell all that mathstuffs apart… Fixing!

By: The Reptile

The Reptile — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:10:58 +0000

Great concept for an app. Would be better if it had some sections for statistics and finance – things that are used in business, not just academia.

By: Jeremy Sikora

Jeremy Sikora — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:49:43 +0000

I always hated math… But good job with the review.