Factorials
Posted on 23 Mar 2023 at 20:25
This program, like exponentiation, is another follow-on from the one that can multiply large numbers together. Here, you can calculate the factorial of a number. This is the product of all the numbers from 1 up to and including the number.
A factorial is denoted by adding an exclamation mark after the number.
One practical application of a factorial is in counting the number of possible distinct sequences – or permutations, of a number of distinct objects. For example, if you have a nuber of distinct objects in a row, in how many ways can these objects be arranged.
Enter the number in the box, then select the thousand separator (none, space, comma, decimal point or apostrophe).
The factorial of a number is the product of all of the whole numbers from 1 to the number, as per the following equation:
Then click on the button, and the factorial of the number will appear in the box, with the selected thousand-separators. Once the factorial appears in the box below, you can right click it, select the number, and then copy it to other places, like in a word processor document for example.
WARNING: This script uses Javascript, which is client-side scripting. This means that your computer does the calculating and displays it in the box below. The larger the number inputted, the longer it will take to process the output. If you have an older (and less powerful) computer, it is recommended that you avoid inputting larger numbers (say, trying to get the factorial of more than 2000), otherwise you run the risk of the computer freezing up. I take no responsibility for computer crashes (including consequent loss of unsaved data) as a result of inputting extremely large numbers where your computer is perhaps not up to the task.