Paul Schlie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: | > Gabriel Dos Reis wrote: | > You probably noticed that in the polynomial expansion, you are using | > an integer power -- which everybody agrees on yield 1 at the limit. | > | > I'm tlaking about 0^0, when you look at the limit of function x^y | | Out of curiosity, on what basis can one conclude: | | lim{|x|==|y|->0} x^y :: lim{|x|==|y|->0} (exp (* x (log y))) != 1 ?
The issue is not whether the limit of x^x, as x approaches 0, is 1 not. We all, mathematically, agree on that. The issue is whether the *bivariate* function x^y has a defined limit at (0,0). And the answer is unambiguously no. Checking just one path does NOT suffice to assrt that the limit exists. (However, that might suffice to assert that a limit does not exist). I'm deeply burried somewhere in the middle-west deserts and I have no much reliable connection, so I'll point you to the message http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2005-03/msg00469.html where I've tried to taint this discussion with some realities from what standard bodies think on the 0^0 arithmetic, and conterexample you can check by yourself. | As although it's logarithmic decomposition may yield intermediate complex | values, and may diverge prior to converging as they approach their limit, | it seems fairly obvious that the expression converges to the value of 1 You've transmuted the function x^y to the function x^x which is a different beast. Existing of limit of the latter does not imply existance of limit of the former. Again check the counterexamples in the message I referred to above. -- Gaby