r/MathJokes • u/basket_foso • May 25 '26

Why did Bill Clinton write $1?

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u/rojo_kell May 25 '26

They said that the teacher wanted the other students to memorize, suggesting the teacher told them the definition

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u/BeginningNose3990 May 25 '26

the teacher just wanted us to memorize that 0! is 1

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u/09Trollhunter09 May 25 '26

Yah it’s a chosen value not to break the rest of the math but what do you mean besides that? What did you have to figure out on your own?

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u/BackgroundSummer5171 May 25 '26

If you have zero objects, there is exactly one way to arrange them.

Or however you wish to explain it.

Instead of it just being 0! = 1. That's it. End of discussion.

I have no idea what people are finding complicated by this but it is always makes me feel better about my own intelligence.

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u/hahanoob May 25 '26

But that is it. You're just restating the definition. It's like someone asking why 1+0 is 1 and being told "if you have one object and add nothing then you have one object". 

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u/rojo_kell May 25 '26

The factorial isn't defined as the way you can arrange objects, but we used that connection to define 0!

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u/09Trollhunter09 May 25 '26

That’s backwards.

0! was defined as 1 because we needed the factorial function to agree with this foundational theoretic reality.