Re: The Gordian knot


The Ghost In The Machine wrote:

In sci.logic, Henrik
<henrikNoSpam@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on 15 Nov 2006 02:42:02 -0800
<1163587322.431346.284200@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

Pi is a calculus, a function, not a number. If the digits of pi are
created randomly then there is no possibility of showing that these
digits are of pi. Pi must be calculated, not 'thrown'.

Why is Pi not a number?


Depending on how one wants to approach this, the term
'Pi' is a symbol for a numeric quantity. Therefore, it's
either a number (namely, a real approximately equal to
3.14159... and computable by various means), or it's not
since it's merely a symbol for something that we happen to
call a number...gads, my head spinneth already and we've
barely started. :-)

However, the digits of (the number represented by the
symbol) Pi are not created randomly; they have a very
definite sequence. The first few, of course, are
3,1,4,1,5,9,2,6,5, ... (if one counts the leading 3).

Considering that the first 25 or so digits of Pi are enough
to approximate the Earth's orbit to within the width of a
proton, the rest are mind candy but we've calculated the
silly thing to billions of decimal places. :-)

--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Conventional memory has to be one of the most UNconventional
architectures I've seen in a computer system.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

No, we have not calculated pi to within 25 or so digits. There is no
number pi that is not "calculated" as pi. So your statement should not
read 'we have calculated pi to within ...', but rather 'we have
calculated pi to be ....'.

.

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