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show/hide this revision's text 5 "possible" was ambiguous; it could mean "definitely possible", or "there is a chance that" (which is what I meant). Presumably people are still voting up Douglas Zare's comment because they didn't think I edited my answer to reflect it?

Yes, there is such a thing as the irrationality measure of a real number (I'm not sure if it can be / has already been extended to complex numbers). It is based on the idea that all algebraic numbers (including the golden ratio) are hard to approximate well by rationals, relative to the size of the denominator of the rational used, while it is sometimes possible for a transcendental numbers number to be approximated better. In particular, if a number $\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}$ has the property that there are infinitely many rational approximations $\frac{p}{q}\in\mathbb{Q}$ with $|\,\alpha-\frac{p}{q}|< q^{-t}$, then $t$ is a lower bound for the irrationality measure of $\alpha$; the larger $t$ is, i.e. the better your approximations are relative to the denominator, the "more irrational" you are, at least from a Diophantine approximation point of view.

From Wikipedia: The irrationality measure of a rational number is 1; the very deep theorem of Thue, Siegel, and Roth shows that any algebraic number that isn't rational has irrationality measure 2; and transcendental numbers will have an irrationality measure $\geq2$. However, as Douglas Zare has pointed out in the comments, the set of transcendental numbers of irrationality measure $>2$ has measure 0, so that in most cases it's unfortunately not useful as a comparison.

It appears that the irrationality measure of $\pi$ is not currently known, but that there are upper bounds; the most recent one I could find is this, which would appear to show that $\mu(\pi)\leq7.6063$. The Wikipedia article claims that $\mu(e)=2$, so whether or not $\pi$ is "more irrational" than $e$ looks like an open question.

show/hide this revision's text 4 put in Douglas Zare's comment

Yes, there is such a thing as the irrationality measure of a real number (I'm not sure if it can be / has already been extended to complex numbers). It is based on the idea that all algebraic numbers (including the golden ratio) are hard to approximate well by rationals, relative to the size of the denominator of the rational used, while it is possible for transcendental numbers can to be approximated much better. In particular, if a number $\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}$ has the property that there are infinitely many rational approximations $\frac{p}{q}\in\mathbb{Q}$ with $|\,\alpha-\frac{p}{q}|< q^{-t}$, then $t$ is a lower bound for the irrationality measure of $\alpha$; the larger $t$ is, i.e. the better your approximations are relative to the denominator, the "more irrational" you are, at least from a Diophantine approximation point of view.

As we would hope, the

From Wikipedia: The irrationality measure of a rational number is 1. The ; the very deep theorem of Thue, Siegel, and Roth shows that any algebraic number that isn't rational has irrationality measure 2(so it unfortunately will not help distinguish more or less irrational algebraic numbers). Transcendental ; and transcendental numbers will have an irrationality measure $\geq2$. However, as Douglas Zare has pointed out in the comments, the set of transcendental numbers of irrationality measure $>2$ has measure 0, so that in most cases it's unfortunately not useful as a comparison.

It appears that the irrationality measure of $\pi$ is not currently known, but that there are upper bounds; the most recent one I could find is this, which would appear to show that $\mu(\pi)\leq7.6063$. The Wikipedia article claims that $\mu(e)=2$, so whether or not $\pi$ is "more irrational" than $e$ looks like an open question.

show/hide this revision's text 3 more info

Yes, there is such a thing as the irrationality measure of a real number (I'm not sure if it can be / has already been extended to complex numbers). It is based on the idea that all algebraic numbers (including the golden ratio) are "hard" hard to approximate well by rationals, relative to the size of the denominator of the rational used, while transcendental numbers can be approximated much better. In particular, if a number $\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}$ has the property that there are infinitely many rational approximations $\frac{p}{q}\in\mathbb{Q}$ with $|\,\alpha-\frac{p}{q}|< q^{-t}$, then $t$ is a lower bound for the irrationality measure of $\alpha$; the larger $t$ is, i.e. the better your approximations are relative to the denominator, the "more irrational" you are, at least from a Diophantine approximation point of view.

As we would hope, the irrationality measure of a rational number is 1. The very deep theorem of Thue, Siegel, and Roth shows that any algebraic number that isn't rational has irrationality measure 2 (so it unfortunately will not help distinguish more or less irrational algebraic numbers). Transcendental numbers will have an irrationality measure $\geq2$.

It appears that the irrationality measure of $\pi$ is not currently known, but that there are upper bounds; the most recent one I could find is this, which would appear to show that $\mu(\pi)\leq7.6063$. The Wikipedia article claims that $\mu(e)=2$, so whether or not $\pi$ is "more irrational" than $e$ looks like an open question.

show/hide this revision's text 2 added some info about pi vs e
show/hide this revision's text 1