# Microsoft Office Application Help - Excel Help forum > Excel General >  > [SOLVED] What does the exclamation point (!) stand for in a math equation .

## scorpionest

In Statistics or Math, does anyone know what the "!" (exclamation point)
stands for?  Please HELP.  Thank you!

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## Max

Think it stands for factorial, e.g.:

4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 =24
3! = 3 x 2 x 1 = 6

and in Excel, you can use FACT() to calculate factorials

If you enter in A1: 4, put in B1: =FACT(A1)
B1 returns 24
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
GMT+8,  1Â° 22' N  103Â° 45' E
xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
----
scorpionest <scorpionest@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E1C5272B-C953-4366-9D15-B614A07E7C67@microsoft.com...
> In Statistics or Math, does anyone know what the "!" (exclamation point)
> stands for?  Please HELP.  Thank you!

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## Martin P

4!=4Ãâ3Ãâ2Ãâ1
7!=7Ãâ6Ãâ5Ãâ4Ãâ3Ãâ2Ãâ1
Not as obvious:
0!=1
To link your question to Excel, look up FACTORIAL in Help.

"scorpionest" wrote:

> In Statistics or Math, does anyone know what the "!" (exclamation point)
> stands for?  Please HELP.  Thank you!

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## Harlan Grove

"Alan Beban" <unavailable@no.com> wrote...
>Once 0! is defined as being equal to 1, then n! =n((n - 1)!) for n a
>positive integer.

It's not mere convention or just a definition. In Set Theory approach, n! is
the cardinality of the set of permutations of n items (similar to Excel's
PERMUT(n,n)). 1! = 1 because there's only permutation, {{a}}. 0! = 1 because
the the empty set counts as such a set, {{}}.

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## Max

(Re-sent, apologies for the unintentioned advance dating)

Think it stands for factorial, e.g.:

4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 =24
3! = 3 x 2 x 1 = 6

and in Excel, you can use FACT() to calculate factorials

If you enter in A1: 4, put in B1: =FACT(A1)
B1 returns 24
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
GMT+8,  1Â° 22' N  103Â° 45' E
xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
----
"scorpionest" <scorpionest@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E1C5272B-C953-4366-9D15-B614A07E7C67@microsoft.com...
> In Statistics or Math, does anyone know what the "!" (exclamation point)
> stands for?  Please HELP.  Thank you!

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## Amedee Van Gasse

Max,

Your date is so very wrong that I will ignore you until 02/01/2025
18:35:32.

*plonk*

--
Amedee Van Gasse using XanaNews 1.17.3.1
If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
How to Report Bugs Effectively
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no" as the
answer.
http://homepages.tesco.net/~J.deBoyn...-with-yes-or-n
o-answers.html

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## Max

"Amedee Van Gasse" <nzrqrr.ina.tnffr@rztebhc.or> wrote
> Max,
> Your date is so very wrong that I will ignore you until 02/01/2025
> 18:35:32.

Hey <g>, I did a re-post immediately then upon alert from a very alert Dave
P.<bg>, with an apology for the unintentioned advance dating. The lame, but
true reason: just changed me ole' harddisk at that time, din't notice that
the sys date (year) was out by so much ..
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
GMT+8,  1Â° 22' N  103Â° 45' E
xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
----

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## Dave Peterson

Which reminds me of a sign that was in one of my highschool class rooms:

Be Alert
(The world needs more lerts!)

Max wrote:
>
> "Amedee Van Gasse" <nzrqrr.ina.tnffr@rztebhc.or> wrote
> > Max,
> > Your date is so very wrong that I will ignore you until 02/01/2025
> > 18:35:32.
>
> Hey <g>, I did a re-post immediately then upon alert from a very alert Dave
> P.<bg>, with an apology for the unintentioned advance dating. The lame, but
> true reason: just changed me ole' harddisk at that time, din't notice that
> the sys date (year) was out by so much ..
> --
> Rgds
> Max
> xl 97
> ---
> GMT+8,  1Â° 22' N  103Â° 45' E
> xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
> ----

--

Dave Peterson

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## Max

"Dave Peterson" <ec35720@netscapeXSPAM.com> wrote
.... reminds me of a sign that was in one of my highschool class rooms:
>> Be Alert
> (The world needs more alerts!)
aha, gotcha ! <bg>
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
GMT+8,  1Â° 22' N  103Â° 45' E
xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
----

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## Amedee Van Gasse

Max shared this with us in microsoft.public.excel.misc:

> "Amedee Van Gasse" <nzrqrr.ina.tnffr@rztebhc.or> wrote
> > Max,
> > Your date is so very wrong that I will ignore you until 02/01/2025
> > 18:35:32.
>
> Hey <g>, I did a re-post immediately then upon alert from a very
> alert Dave P.<bg>, with an apology for the unintentioned advance
> dating. The lame, but true reason: just changed me ole' harddisk at
> that time, din't notice that the sys date (year) was out by so much ..
> --
> Rgds
> Max
> xl 97
> ---
> GMT+8,  1Â° 22' N  103Â° 45' E
> xdemechanik <at>yahoo<dot>com
> ----

Ego te absolvo.



Grrrr... my Latin is soooo rusty...
Oh wait, I never had Latin in school!
Whatever, never mind my ramblings.
--
Amedee Van Gasse using XanaNews 1.17.3.1
If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
How to Report Bugs Effectively
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no" as the
answer.
http://homepages.tesco.net/~J.deBoyn...-with-yes-or-n
o-answers.html

----------

