0 characteristics

by **condenach** Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:43 pm

Hi,

Just to check:

0 is even and it is not positive nor negative right?

Does it have any other "special" characteristic?

0^x=0 except 0^0=1 right?

Thanks

by **GMATPaduan** Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:43 am

Here are a few properties of zero:

Zero is an even integer, it is neither negative nor positive.

Any number raised to the zero power = 1.

Zero raised to any power (except 0) = 0.

by **JadranLee** Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:20 pm

You guys are both right. Don't worry about 0^0 - there's some disagreement among mathematicians about whether it equals zero or is undefined. You won't need to evaluate 0^0 on the GMAT.

One property of zero that comes up on the GMAT is that any number divided by zero is undefined. Keep this in mind when you are tempted to divide both sides of an equation by a variable - if it's possible that the variable could be equal to zero, that particular division could give you a wrong answer.