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What does the symbol for factorial function (n!) mean?

a.
It means to divide a series of descending natural numbers.
c.
It means to divide a series of ascending natural numbers.
b.
It means to multiply a series of descending natural numbers.
d.
It means to multiply a series of ascending natural numbers.

2 Answers

4 votes

It means B and it can also mean D.

Take for example
3! which can be written as
3!=3\cdot2\cdot1 in descending order however
3\cdot2\cdot1=1\cdot2\cdot3=3!.

Further reading.

The factorial function
n! where
n\in\mathbb{Z}^+ is defined as taking the n-th derivative of exponential function
x^n namely,


(d^n)/(dx^n)x^n=n!.

We observe that we approach smaller and smaller values of n and therefore multiply by smaller and smaller natural number while total product increasing since every number we multiply the product with is non-decimal.

Hope this helps.

User Matt Woelk
by
6.8k points
3 votes

Answer:

B. It means to divide a series of ascending natural numbers.

Explanation:

Just took the test

User Ingo Muschenetz
by
6.4k points