> On Tue, 24 Sep 1996 22:01:15 -0500 (CDT) zaimoni@ksu.edu writes:
> >Evaluating a 26x26
> >matrix's
> >determinant BY THE DEFINITION will take 26!-1 additions, and 26!*25
> >multiplications.
>
> How does one read 26!-1?
>
> -KMO
Oh. 26!, i.e. "26 factorial", reads like this:
26*25*24*23*22*21*20*19*18*17*16*15*14*13*12*11*10*9*8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1 [and
the 1 doesn't do anything to the value.]
n! i.e. "n factorial", for a nonnegative integer, is defined as
n*(n-1)*...*2*1. [Multiply together all of the numbers from 1 to n.]
0! i.e. "0 factorial", is arbitrarily defined to be 1. [It's an empty
product.]
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/ Kenneth Boyd
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