Math Problem

[brlacrosse50]

i got this crazy math problem toady for extra credit. i simplified it down to what is 88!. or in other words 88*87*86*85...etc. anybody help me out?

[stegmakk]

1.8548E+134

[Mavido]

so are you saying that its 88 times 87 times 86 times 85 or what? what math are you in?

[Jpettit25]

Get a graphing calculator, and you can actually type in 88! and it will do it for you.

(Which I'm guessing is what Stegs did.)

[Snowman01]

1.8548E+134

you mean 1.8548 x 10^134 right?

[stegmakk]

same difference

[JedimasterKyle]

Actually the highest you can go is 69!. You have to have like a TI-89 or something better, not a TI-83.

[OutBurst]

If I had my Pre-Calc book I could have already given you the equation. It is a Geometric Sequence so...

Let me see if I can find it online...

[RockStar]

If I had my Pre-Calc book I could have already given you the equation. It is a Geometric Sequence so...

Let me see if I can find it online...

X! = X*(X-1)*(X-2)*.....*3*2*1

Yes, it's a simple product series, and there may be an alternate equation to calculate the product.


However, Even if you expressed it in a different form, you might still not be able to evaluate it. It's such a big number that it takes an expensive calculator to handle it!

MS Excel does fine with it. The crappy calculator program that comes with Windoze also works. Cheap pocket calculators might not though.

If I were your teacher, I'd give you full marks for reducing it to 88! anyway (assuming that's the correct answer, of course!)

(The terms are not a geometric sequence though - for that to be true, the ratio of any term T(i) to T(i-1) has to be equal. I guess this is an arithmetic sequence. Common difference between each term of 1.)

[midknight]

I am a huge math/science nerd and I thought about your problem: first, it is not a sequence (arithmetic or geometric) so there is no equation to help you derive the answer. Therefore without the use of a graphing calculator there is no way to get a numerical answer. Secondly, 88! is in simplest form. If it were my homework I'd just leave it as simplified. Hope I could help.

[laxersk8erguy8]

I put in excel and got what steggmakk got..whatever that means, i do not know.

[LL71]

NERDS! NERDS! NERDS! lol jus playin

[regulate34]

i am in easy math :thumbsup:

[aussielax]

i am in easy math :thumbsup:

Yeah so am I. I'm in year eleven (second last year of school down here) and we just finished doing compound and simple interest and have just started doing Simultaneous equations.

[McJesus]

just curious, what was the original problem?

[RockStar]

I am a huge math/science nerd and I thought about your problem: first, it is not a sequence (arithmetic or geometric).....

It is actually a product series of all integers between 1 and 88:

88*87*86*......*3*2*1

Could be written as Product(i), i=1 to 88.

The terms certainly represent an arithmetic sequence:

Term(i+1) - Term(i) = constant. In this case, the constant is 1.

[brlacrosse50]

thanks guys. can you help me get a numerical number?
thanks . im in school now and when i get home i will post the problem.

[roughrider]

This is why I am not taking math next year.

[OutBurst]

It is a factorial series. 88! so just put it in your calculator...

[goalieman24]

1.8548E+134

the numerical answer to this would be 18548 and 130 0's.

[squire]

The simplest answer you can write is just 88!. If you want a numerical answer, then try a graphing calculator and use what everyone else wrote. Or you can look it up on a table and get 1.85483*10^134. If you need to show your work without using a "!" on your calculator, the easiest way to do it is to instead multiply (8.8)*(8.7)*(8.6)*...*(0.2)*(0.1)*10^88, which is the same thing since you have a product and your calculator won't barf at all the powers of ten. Then maybe you'll figure out some more digits in your answer.