Here's one for you.

Honestly, I can't. 0! = 1 is one of those higher level mathematics results that they just tell you to memorize because it's not worth the two hours it takes to mathematically justify it.

The essence of it is that "the product of no numbers at all is 1". Does that make sense to you? Me either! I'm not mathematician.

Imagine that you have a nonexistent number... if that makes ANY sense. You have nothing. 0.

0 + 0 = ?

0, obviously.

Let's do that again. 0 + 0 =?

0.

Now lets do that a lot.

0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = ?

0.

So how do we get 1 by adding 0?

We do it A LOT more than we've done it. We do it an infinite number of times.

That's a powerful concept, infinite. It's beyond the human ability to comprehend. We add 0 to 0 more times than there are grains of sand on a beach =?

0.

What if we added 0 to 0 more times than there are atoms in the known universe? = ?

BUT each of those numbers? Grains of sand on a beach, and atoms in the Universe? Those are so insignificantly small compared to infinity that there is no discernible difference between them on a scale of that magnitude.

So what happens if we add 0 to 0 and INFINITE number of times? = ?

We get 1.

I can't prove that, because I haven't done Calculus since high school, and I'm an idiot. But it's true.

/r/unexpectedfactorial Thread Parent