On Dec 12, 2019, at 16:40, Steven D'Aprano <st...@pearwood.info> wrote: > > > Surely a zero-dimensional array ought to have no elements at all?
Forgetting about the practical benefits of having a way to have scalars that have a dtype and respond to ndarray methods and so on, here’s how to convince yourself it makes sense mathematically: What do you get when you multiply no numbers together? The multiplicative identity, 1. It’s the same reason that anything to the zeroth power is 1. In fact, it’s directly related. A 3D array where all 3 dimensions are 4 has 4**3 elements. A matrix where both dimensions are 4 has 4**2 elements. A vector where the sole dimension is 4 has 4**1 elements. A scalar where all zero of the dimensions are 4 has 4**0 elements. And if you’re thinking, hey, can’t you also say that all zero of the dimensions are 137? Sure, and the scalar also has 137**0 elements. You can say all zero of the dimensions are any number you like, and you get that number to the zeroth power elements, which is always 1. _______________________________________________ Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ Message archived at https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/7E744N3CLAQRMM2KSVVBSXQLWHUEF7SH/ Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/
