That is, of course, a line from "Good Love". For most of the first few years I grooved to that song, I thought he was singing something about a race to zero, and she is always the winner. Like with everything else Prince back then, I assumed he meant the woman reached climax first.

But then my ears unclogged and I realized that he was singing, "Any place to zero, you are number one". And I damn near fell out of my chair.

I had to think real hard back to high school math, but as I recalled any number with an exponent of zero was number 1. I checked Google and...yep! All numbers (except zero) to the zero power are 1! "Any place to zero, you are number one".

It's mind-blowing to me that he somehow either remembered this lightly-used mathematical rule, or understood it when someone told it to him.

"Any place to zero, you are number one" might just be the most clever line I've ever heard.

Love that clarification. I had been thinking of statistical stuff, the normal curve, where everything under the curve adds up to one. But, your explanation seems right and clever. On a side note, I've been listening to that song a lot lately and need to give Gustav Mahler #3 a run. Has anyone listened to it? "Gustav Mahler, number three, jammin' on the box!"

I'm hard pressed to find a better one. Of all of the jewels he recorded during the Golden Age, this one is one of the most fun.

Had the film it first appeared in, Bright Lights, Big City been more successful, this song may have been a hit. (solid soundtrack, fwiw)

Nice theory but dont think that was it. Maybe he was thinking of rounding to the Xth place. Or "place" in the sence of a ranking (e.g. first place, second place etc) but she that she is always #1.

emesem said:

Nice theory but dont think that was it. Maybe he was thinking of rounding to the Xth place. Or "place" in the sence of a ranking (e.g. first place, second place etc) but she that she is always #1.

a great line any way you slice it.

Great tune!

barnswallow said:

I always thought he had just reversed the idea of a rating system, 0 to 10, or 0 to 100, with 0 being none, and 100 being the worst or best or whatever. It was a rating system that was used quite a bit when I was younger, too, between us kids. "If you had to rate Chris from 0 to 10 as to whether he is cute or not, where would you rate him? With 10 being not cute and 0 being the cutest you ever seen." (Or vice versa. It's been a long time since I was kid.)

RodeoSchro said:

That is, of course, a line from "Good Love". For most of the first few years I grooved to that song, I thought he was singing something about a race to zero, and she is always the winner. Like with everything else Prince back then, I assumed he meant the woman reached climax first.

But then my ears unclogged and I realized that he was singing, "Any place to zero, you are number one". And I damn near fell out of my chair.

I had to think real hard back to high school math, but as I recalled any number with an exponent of zero was number 1. I checked Google and...yep! All numbers (except zero) to the zero power are 1! "Any place to zero, you are number one".

It's mind-blowing to me that he somehow either remembered this lightly-used mathematical rule, or understood it when someone told it to him.

"Any place to zero, you are number one" might just be the most clever line I've ever heard.

OK, that's cool because I always wondered what he meant. Only thing is I suck badly at maths (always hated it in skool, I was the lit type).

Could someone explain this to me in simple terms?

databank said:

OK, that's cool because I always wondered what he meant. Only thing is I suck badly at maths (always hated it in skool, I was the lit type).

Could someone explain this to me in simple terms?

Here's an explanation:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/pre-algebra/pre-algebra-exponents-radicals/pre-algebra-exponents/v/raising-a-number-to-the-0th-and-1st-power

Sorry. I can't figure out how to make a proper link, so you'll have to cut-and-paste to see/hear it.

Any suggestion on how to make a link, appreciated.

benni said:

E319 said:

benni said:

I always thought he had just reversed the idea of a rating system, 0 to 10, or 0 to 100, with 0 being none, and 100 being the worst or best or whatever. It was a rating system that was used quite a bit when I was younger, too, between us kids. "If you had to rate Chris from 0 to 10 as to whether he is cute or not, where would you rate him? With 10 being not cute and 0 being the cutest you ever seen." (Or vice versa. It's been a long time since I was kid.)

I think your explanation is the most likely correct. I’m a high school math teacher and I find the 0 exponent explanation highly unlikely and “any place to zero” does not sound like a reference to that exponent rule at all to me.

I actually think the OP might be on to something. You are a math teacher and would surely know more than the average person, but with exponents don't we say "X to the Y power?" - ex. 10 to the 2nd power. So, in the lyrical context of this song "any number to the power of (or place to) 0 is the number 1". It's possible that Prince switched up the phrasing - as he often did - so the lyric flowed better with the rest of the song.

*

I don't think he was a math wiz by any means, but it's possible that he would have remembered this rule, or been reminded of it by someone or something before he wrote the song.

violetcrush said:

benni said:

barnswallow said:

databank said:

OK, that's cool because I always wondered what he meant. Only thing is I suck badly at maths (always hated it in skool, I was the lit type).

Could someone explain this to me in simple terms?

Here's an explanation:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/pre-algebra/pre-algebra-exponents-radicals/pre-algebra-exponents/v/raising-a-number-to-the-0th-and-1st-power

Sorry. I can't figure out how to make a proper link, so you'll have to cut-and-paste to see/hear it.

Any suggestion on how to make a link, appreciated.

Oh lawd I think it's too technical for me , but thx

For links, see "code help" under the emoticons.

databank said:

barnswallow said:

Here's an explanation:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/pre-algebra/pre-algebra-exponents-radicals/pre-algebra-exponents/v/raising-a-number-to-the-0th-and-1st-power

Sorry. I can't figure out how to make a proper link, so you'll have to cut-and-paste to see/hear it.

Any suggestion on how to make a link, appreciated.

Oh lawd I think it's too technical for me , but thx

For links, see "code help" under the emoticons.

Oh... thanks for 'code help'. Sorry for math anxiety-inducing link. That clip would explain the issue of '0' exponents better than I could, for sure. I'll try though. The point is that any number 'raised to the power of zero' is equal to 'one'. That is, except for 0 raised to the 0 power. You:

• 1⁰=1

• 7⁰=1

• 20ten⁰=1

• 3121⁰=1

• 7801⁰=1

I always thought thats what he meant with that lyric...now this confirns it. Dude was simply brilliant is SO many ways!!

One of my top songs from him. Immediately makes me think of Summer for some reason...

E319 said:

violetcrush said:

I actually think the OP might be on to something. You are a math teacher and would surely know more than the average person, but with exponents don't we say "X to the Y power?" - ex. 10 to the 2nd power. So, in the lyrical context of this song "any number to the power of (or place to) 0 is the number 1". It's possible that Prince switched up the phrasing - as he often did - so the lyric flowed better with the rest of the song.

*

I don't think he was a math wiz by any means, but it's possible that he would have remembered this rule, or been reminded of it by someone or something before he wrote the song.

The exponent rule you guys are mentioning is correct, but you would never say ”to the place of” when referring to an exponent. You would say “to the power of.” I think some of you are reading way too much into Prince’s lyrics in this case. I don’t think it was that deep.

Hey now! Considering Prince ALSO placed the Penguin Joke in this song, I do not think we can underestimate the depths of geniousity here!

barnswallow said:

Poplife88 said:

I love the "part 2!" part. Memories. I used to work for this great dude who was a part time musician at a retail store can he used to make fun of my Price mixes claiming just when he though the song was over, Prince would come in and say "PART 2!" and it would go on for 5 more mins.

Dandroppedadime said:

I also prefer the shorter (Crystal Ball) edit. Strange as I usually always go for the longest possible version of most of his songs. I just don’t like the ‘Good Love part 2’ line.