Skip to main content

All Questions

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
11 votes
4 answers
1k views

Compilation of strategies to show that some constant is irrational

I'm looking into expanding my knowledge in ways to show that some constant is irrational. I'm gonna give some examples of irrationality proofs, and I'm interested in learning what strategies you guys ...
Pinteco's user avatar
  • 521
12 votes
1 answer
565 views

On Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula for irrational numbers

A BBP-type formula for an irrational number $\alpha$ in the integer base $b\geq 2$ is a formula in the form $\alpha=\Sigma_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{1}{b^k}\frac{p(k)}{q(k)}$ ($p, q$ are polynomials in ...
Amit Sing Mukerjee's user avatar
35 votes
9 answers
21k views

Direct proof of irrationality?

There are plenty of simple proofs out there that $\sqrt{2}$ is irrational. But does there exist a proof which is not a proof by contradiction? I.e. which is not of the form: Suppose $a/b=\sqrt{2}$ ...
RubeRad's user avatar
  • 395