Factorial - Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet Factorials

Spreadsheets can be used for programming computations.  Without scripts or macros a spreadsheet does not have a loop capability.  But, it can perform computations referencing cells to provide a sequence of cells with factorials.  Cells are much like variables in other programming languages, they store values.

Factorial - scripts - sh, csh, dc, bc

More Factorial Fun, Python and Lisp

This continues the factorial study started in the prior post.  The factorial increases rapidly and can be programmed as a simple loop.  The factorial, indicated with an exclamation point after a positive integer number is the product of all integers from 1 up to and including the integer.

Factorial Programs (Fortran and C Family)

Factorial Fun

 There are many computer programming languages and many more being developed all the time.  Usually the first program when learning a new language is "Hello World!", which outputs the text "Hello World!" to the screen.
For engineers, scientist and mathematicians the next program should be the factorial.  The factorial is symbolized with an exclamation point, !, after a positive integer.  It occurs often in probability and series.  The factorial is the product of all integers from one up to and including the number.

• 1! = 1
• 2! = 1*2 = 2
• 3! = 1*2*3 = 6
• 4! = 1*2*3*4 = 24
• 5! = 1*2*3*4*5 = 120

 The factorial increases rapidly showing computer artifacts due to limited precision.

The following example programs in various computer languages take a number from the user, without checking if it is valid, to keep the code simple, and returns its factorial.  Each example includes an introduction and detailed description.