Re: Cantorian pseudomathematics



In article <1137642451.690509.291740@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> "david petry" <david_lawrence_petry@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
....
> > david petry wrote:
....
> > > Presumably if we examine the proof of the statement "pi is irrational",
> > > we could come up with a function 'f' such that
> > > for all m,n, |pi - m/n| < f(n),
....
> My mistake. I should have written |pi - m/n| > f(n). Sorry.

Your mistake again. For algebraic numbers of degree n >= 2 it has
been shown that |a - p/q| > 1/(q^2). There are no such formulas
for transcendental numbers. Some transcendental numbers can be
approximated arbitrarily close by rationals. But this has nothing
to do with rational vs. irrational.
--
*** t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj amsterdam, nederland, +31205924131
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn amsterdam, nederland; http://www.cwi.nl/~***/
.


Quantcast