Hal E. Fulton
9/15/2003 11:49:00 PM
Michael Campbell wrote:
> --- Nikolai Weibull <lone-star@home.se> wrote:
>
>>* Michael Campbell <michael_s_campbell@yahoo.com> [Sep, 15 2003
>>23:20]:
>>
>>>It is, at least according to wolfram, which I''m inclined to
>>>believe.
>
>
>>the real interesting thing is figuring out why it must be so,
>
>
> Undoubtedly, but that''s a bit beyond me, I''m afraid. =)
Not particularly. It''s one of those things where, once you
see it, it''s no big deal.
Unfortunately, I can''t remember exactly how it works.
There are formulae that involve (n-k)!, perhaps in the
denominator, I can''t recall. And in the degenerate case
where n=k, "common sense" tells us that we get the right
answer if 0! is arbitrarily defined to be 1. So we do that.
At least, I think that''s how it works. The more math
background you have, the more you may grind your teeth at
my generalization.
Hal