PreCalculus12 JustforfunFactorials

Legally Binding Use of Factorials

You saved *how* much? As most half-bakers no doubt are aware, placing an exclamation point (!) after a positive integer n signifies the factorial operator n!=n(n-1)(n-2)...1, meaning that all postive integers less than or equal to the given number should be multiplied together to arrive at a solution. For instance, 1!=1 2!=(2)(1)=2 3!=(3)(2)(1)=6 4!=(4)(3)(2)(1)=24 and so on. The arithmetic is really pretty straightforward -- but inexplicably, print and internet advertisers in particular appear to have fallen away from proper mathematical usage when financial matters are involved. I can't tell you the number of times I've been shocked (shocked!) at a coupon or advertisement brazenly promising to "SAVE $5!", while clearly having no intention of coming across with the actual sum depicted ($5!, or $120). It is time that they pay for their enthusiasm. Should you be so fortunate as to receive a coupon, spam email, or fake promotional check with any amount of money followed by a !, immediately present yourself at corporate headquarters with legal and mathematical representation and demand the full value to which you are entitled. The actual savings due on a coupon for $10! would come to just over 3.6 million dollars, while a sweepstakes offer such as "Win $50!" could result in an arbitrarily large, effectively infinite cash settlement. There are a few caveats: Frustratingly, multifactorials such as n!!! increase somewhat more slowly than simple factorials n! for all values of n, giving particularly obnoxious offenders ("in less than 5 minutes, you can make $1000!!!!!!") a very slight reprieve. A case could be made that currency units distribute within the expression; thus a ($3)! coupon might only be redeemable in cubic dollars -- but I feel sure the parentheses would have to be expressly included in the promotional materials for that to be true. And for reasons I'm not totally clear on, zero factorial is defined as being equal to 1. So a credit agreement where "Your first month's payment is $0!" would actually go into default if you neglected to send in the $1 check. All kinds of written communication could benefit from a more literal appreciation of this overlooked operator. If after having won a $20! cash giveaway, lawyers for the advertising firm contact you with an offer less than the gross national product of Brazil, simply respond with the following message: "I'll get back to you in several days -- I'm not sure how many, but it definitely will be less than 10!" dryman, Jan 31 2004

PreCalculus12 JustforfunFactorials

Factorial !
WhatAbout"0!" Zero Factorial is interesting ... it is generally agreed that 0! = 1. It may seem funny that multiplying no numbers together gets you 1, but it helps simplify a lot of equations. WhereisFactorialUsed? Factorials are used in many areas of mathematics, but particularly in Combinations and Permutations WhatAboutDecimals? Can you have factorials for numbers like 0.5 or -3.217? Yes you can! But you need to get into a subject called the "Gamma Function", which is beyond this simple page. HalfFactorial But I can tell you the factorial of half () is half of the square root of pi = (), and so some "half-integer" factorials are: n (-)! ()! (3/2)! (5/2)! n! () (3/4) (15/8)

And it still follows the rule that "the factorial of any number is: the number times the factorial of (1 smaller than the number)", because (3/2)! = (3/2) (1/2)! (5/2)! = (5/2) (3/2)! Can you figure out what (7/2)! is?