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Questions tagged [irrational-numbers]

An irrational number is a real number that cannot be expressed in the form $\frac{n}{m}$ where $n$ and $m$ are integers.

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The square root of natural number expressed by an infinite series

Can you prove or disprove the following claim: Let $U(n,P,Q)$ be the nth generalized Lucas number of the first kind and let $m$ be a natural number. Then, $$\sqrt{m}=1+\displaystyle\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}...
Pedja's user avatar
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Algebraic and rational parts of a real number

Let $\alpha$ be a positive real number. Does it make sense to define the closest rational to $\alpha$ as the number $R(\alpha)=\frac{p_1}{p_2}$ such that $p_1,p_2$ are positive co-prime integers ...
Vincent Granville's user avatar
6 votes
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Is the arithmetic-geometric mean of 1 and 2 rational?

It is easy to show that, for two fixed real numbers $\alpha, \beta > 0$, the sequences given by $a_ 1 = \frac{\alpha + \beta }{2}$, $ g_1 = \sqrt{\alpha\beta}$, and $a_{n+1} = \frac{a_n + g_n}{2}$, ...
Rick Does Math's user avatar
6 votes
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465 views

Conway's box function iterated to produce a hierarchy of nested sets of real numbers

Conway's box function is the inverse of Minkowski's question mark function. It maps the dyadic rationals on the unit interval to the rationals using the Stern-Brocot tree (Farey sequence). When the ...
Timothy J. Doyle's user avatar
6 votes
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306 views

Irrationality of the sum of the reciprocal of perfect powers

A couple of days ago I was trying to remember a classical exercise (which I now find out goes by the name of Goldbach-Euler theorem). Eventually I figured out that it asked to prove that $$\sum_{p\in\...
Marco Golla's user avatar
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Lebesgue measure of some set of irrational numbers

Let $(i_{n})$ be a strictly increasing sequence of natural numbers, $(v_{n})$ be an unbounded sequences of natural numbers and $M\geq 2$. Denote by $\mathcal{I}(i_{n}, v_{n}, M)$ the set of all ...
sokho's user avatar
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Irrationality of $e^{x/y}$

How to prove the following continued fraction of $e^{x/y}$ $${\displaystyle e^{x/y}=1+{\cfrac {2x}{2y-x+{\cfrac {x^{2}}{6y+{\cfrac {x^{2}}{10y+{\cfrac {x^{2}}{14y+{\cfrac {x^{2}}{18y+\ddots }}}}}}}}}}...
Sourangshu Ghosh's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
586 views

What is known about constructively irrational numbers?

Intuitively, a constructively irrational number is one for which we can effectively separate it from any rational number in terms of the latter's denominator. More formally, a constructively ...
BPP's user avatar
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1 answer
351 views

Mapping $\mathbb P$ onto $\mathbb Q ^\omega$

Let $\mathbb P$ denote the space of irrationals. Is there a continuous bijection (one-to-one and onto) $f:\mathbb P\to \mathbb Q ^\omega$ that maps each closed subset of $\mathbb P$ to a $G_\delta$-...
D.S. Lipham's user avatar
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Approximation of an irrational point from a given direction

Taking norms to be maximal norm, then the simultaneous version of the Dirichlet's approximation theorem states that given real numbers ${\displaystyle \alpha _{1},\ldots ,\alpha _{d}} $,there are ...
hyyyyy's user avatar
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Is it possible to know if $\log(\pi)$ is irrational or not since the $\log$ function is the inverse of the $\exp$ function?

I'm interested in knowing more about the question if $f(\pi)$ is rational or not, where $f$ is some well-known function. For example, $\cos(\pi) =-1$ is rational, while ${e}^{\pi}$ is irrational as ...
zeraoulia rafik's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
361 views

Irrationality of this trigonometric function

I'd like to prove the following conjecture. Let $x = \frac{p}{q}\pi$ be a rational angle ($p,q$ integers, $q \geq 1$). Then $f(x) = \frac{2}{\pi} \arccos{\left(2\cos^4(2x)-1 \right)}$ is irrational if ...
nervxxx's user avatar
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The constant $\pi$ expressed by an infinite series

I am looking for the proof of the following claim: First, define the function $\operatorname{sgn_1}(n)$ as follows: $$\operatorname{sgn_1}(n)=\begin{cases} -1 \quad \text{if } n \neq 3 \text{ and } n \...
Pedja's user avatar
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4 votes
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Show that there are infinitely many well-separated grids from a fixed set of points

I have stumbled upon a question which naturally arises when trying to bin a set of $n$ points into equispaced bins such that they are sufficiently well separated from the bin edges. Take $n$ points $...
George Stepaniants's user avatar
4 votes
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223 views

What is known about the irrationality of ratios and products of logarithms of integers?

Let $a,b,c,d$ be positive natural numbers such that $\{a,b\} \neq \{c,d\}$ and such that none are perfect powers. Is it true that $$\frac{\log a \log b}{\log c \log d} \notin \mathbb{Q} ?$$ The ...
Mark Lewko's user avatar
4 votes
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447 views

The irrational numbers α such that n odd and m=⌊nα⌋ odd implies ⌊mα⌋ odd

This post is the analogous of that one (about $\sqrt{2}$) but with a much stronger expectation here. We observed, and then this comment of Lucia proved, that for $\phi$ the golden ratio, if $n$ ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
239 views

A connection between basic hypergeometric series and number theory

I am studying functions given by the power series: $$f(z)=1+\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{z^n}{(1-q)(1-q^2)\cdots(1-q^{n})}.$$ The parameter $q$ is usually assumed to be such that $|q|<1$. Then it is ...
Twi's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
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Example of irrational number with a pattern in digits [closed]

Suppose I created the following random number generator. A trusted person choose a irrational number. That can easily defined and computed by a computer. Like square root of a prime. Every time the ...
user3513151's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
286 views

$\mathbb{S}^2$ equivalent to frac$(n \alpha)$ equidistribution on $\mathbb{S}^1$

Let $\operatorname{frac}(x) = x - \lfloor x \rfloor$ be the fractional part of $x$. Then, for $\alpha$ irrational, $\operatorname{frac}(n \alpha)$, $n=1,2,\ldots$, distributes randomly in $[0,1)$, ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
315 views

Distribution of the first occurrence of a maximum (record) run of zeros in the digits of a normal number (say $\pi$)

If the question was stated to appeal to the general public, it would be something like this. For a number such as $\pi$ or $\sqrt{2}$, the digits in base $b$ appear to be randomly distributed. We are ...
Vincent Granville's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Irrational number with known probability distribution on digits

Is there any irrational number that is known the probability distribution of digits? Something like 0 appears 10% of time, 1 appears 10% of time, etc. Probably irrational numbers that are defined ...
user3513151's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
513 views

Regarding the digit expansion of $\sqrt 7$

Let $\sqrt 7=\sum_{i=0}^\infty a_i 7^{-i}, 0\le a_i \le 6$ be the expansion of $\sqrt 7$ in base $7$. I am curious about the following question: Is there a $K\in \mathbb{N}$ such that for any $n\ge ...
user534817's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
208 views

$\psi(2,1/6),\psi(4,1/6)$ in terms of zeta and pi only and another closed form for zeta

Let $\psi(n,x)$ denote the polygamma function. In this answer Lucia gave linear relations for $\psi(m,1/3),\psi(m,1/6),\zeta(m+1)$. The computer managed to find closed form for $\psi(2,1/6)$ and $\...
joro's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Evaluating the generalized continued fraction obtained from the factorization of a bivariate polynomial equation

Happy New Year, MO community! We need someone expert in Generalized Continued Fractions (GCFs), with a deep knowledge of the GCFs’ convergence properties, to solve the following problem. PROBLEM ...
Monk's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
312 views

Looking for a proof that $\pi$ is irrational using a series representation for it

This have been asked on MSE but got no answers. I'm searching for a proof that $\pi$ is irrational using a series representation for $\pi$, but can't find it. However, on this wikipedia page show'...
Pinteco's user avatar
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0 answers
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Two algebraically independent irrational numbers $\alpha,\beta$ s.t. $\alpha^\beta$ is a rational number

Are there two algebraically independent irrational numbers $\alpha,\beta$ s.t. $\alpha^\beta$ is a rational number?
Ali Taghavi's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
208 views

Help with this irrationality proof

I have a real number, that is quite messy so I'll just call it $x$. I want to prove it's irrational. It's a proof by contradiction. The contradiction will rise if I assume $x$ is a rational number $p/...
Pinteco's user avatar
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0 answers
202 views

Irrationality or transcendence of $i^{i\Omega}$ and $2^\Omega$, with $\Omega=W(1)$ and $W(x)$ being the main branch of Lambert $W$ function

In this post we denote the main (or principal) branch of the Lambert $W$ function as $W(x)$, I add as reference that Wikipedia has the article Lambert $W$ function. The particular value $W(1)=\Omega$ ...
user142929's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Chudnovsky algorithm and Pi precision

What are the precision/ number of correct Pi digits after N iterations of Chudnovsky algorithm. Looking for a formula (rather than a table) and reference.
Anders's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
162 views

infinite set of mutually irrational numbers which odd linear combinations approximate 0 badly

I'm looking for a set of real numbers $\{\lambda_i;i\geq 1\}$ such that for each odd $n$, one can control $\delta_n:=\inf| \sum_i \pm n_i \lambda_i|$ where the $n_i$ are natural integers that sum to $...
kaleidoscop's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
356 views

Computing all "suboptimal" rational approximations to $\pi/2$

I have an irrational number $\alpha$ ($\alpha=\frac\pi2$), and I would like to determine all integers $n\in[1,N]$ ($N=10^{16}$) that satisfy $$ n \epsilon(n)^2 \leq \tau $$ where $\tau$ is a known ...
Kirill's user avatar
  • 416
2 votes
1 answer
213 views

Irrational rotations are rank 2 by intervals without spacers

Let $\alpha$ be an irrational number, and $R_\alpha$ be the rotation by $\alpha$, that is $R_\alpha(x)=x+\alpha\bmod 1$. S. Ferenczi in his survey [Systems of finite rank. Colloq. Math. 73 (1997), no. ...
Dominik Kwietniak's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
88 views

On finding the region $R$ for which the multi-variable sequence converges [closed]

Find the region $(x,y) \in R$ for which the following sequence converges $$\lim_{n \to \infty} \; \;\left| e^n\frac{(\sqrt{y}-\sqrt{x})^{2n}}{x^n} \right| = 0$$ I am currently doing number theory ...
Brian's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
162 views

O(1) or o(logn) discrepancy for multiples of an irrational for at least one sub interval

O(1) or o(logn) discrepancy for multiples of an irrational for at least one sub interval. Using $\{x\}$ to denote the fraction part of $x$ we can define for any $I\subset [0,1]$, $$E(n,\theta, I) ={ ...
Ivan Meir's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
157 views

Subsets of particular values of $\zeta'(k)$ that contain irrational numbers

We consider the set of elements $\zeta'(2),\zeta'(3),\zeta'(4),\zeta'(5),\ldots$ where $\zeta(z)$ is the Riemann zeta function and $\zeta'(z)=\frac{d}{dz}\zeta(z)$ its derivative. Thus we consider ...
user142929's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
140 views

Combination of irrationals

Fix a very small $\epsilon>0$; and irrationals $a_1,a_2>0$. Now suppose we look at all integer combinations of these irrationals which has a small norm; that is, $$ S=\{(m_1,m_2)\in\mathbb{Z}\...
hookah's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
43 views

Fractional parts of two multiples [duplicate]

There is a theorem (I can't remember its name) saying that for any irrational number $x$ and any $0<a<b<1$, there exists a positive integer $n$ such that $\{nx\}\in (a,b)$, where $\{\cdot\}$ ...
Alexi's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
148 views

Bitwise operation of two square roots

Let $\sqrt 2 = 1.a_1a_2\dots _2$, and $\sqrt 3 = 1.b_1b_2\dots _2$. What can one say about the number $n = 0.c_1c_2\dots$ where $c_i = 1$ if $a_i = b_i$ and $0$ otherwise? There is no reason to ...
Mayank Pandey's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
630 views

Are rationals everywhere equally dense? [closed]

I would like to know is there any notion of density over the rationals with which we could determine are rationals everywhere equally dense on the real line, because, for example, I am not sure would ...
Shalom's user avatar
  • 513
1 vote
1 answer
120 views

Sobolev-type estimate for irrational winding on a torus

Let $\mathbb{T} = \{ (x, y) \in \mathbb{R}^2 \}/_{x \mapsto x + 1, y \mapsto y + 1}$ be a real 2-torus. Let $\mathscr{C}^{\infty}_0(\mathbb{T})$ be the subset of $\mathscr{C}^{\infty}(\mathbb{T})$ of ...
user197284's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
146 views

Rational linear subspace corresponding to an irrational vector

Given a vector $v = (v_1, \ldots, v_n) \in \mathbb{R}^n$, we can associate a rational linear subspace with this vector: assume $\{1, v_i \text{ for }i \in I\}$ is a linear basis of $\{1, v_1, \ldots, ...
HAORAN ZHU's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
234 views

Quotients of the irrationals

Everyone knows that there is a closed equivalence relation $\sim$ on the Cantor set $C$ such that each non-trivial equivalence class has exactly $2$ points and $[0,1]\simeq C/\sim$. Thus a closed ...
D.S. Lipham's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
135 views

Rational Peano curves

An rr function (i.e. rational rational function) is a quotient $$ \frac fg\,:\, \Bbb Q\ \to\ \Bbb Q\cup\{\infty\} $$ such that $\ f,g\,\in\,\Bbb Z[X],\ $ where $\ g\ne 0.$ QUESTION Do there exist ...
Wlod AA's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
629 views

If $x^x=2$ then is $x$ expressible using elementary functions?

I have a curious question. Let $x∈\mathbb{R}^+$ such that $x^x=2$. I am aware that the Gelfond–Schneider theorem implies that $x$ cannot be algebraic. However, is it still possible that $x$ can be ...
user21820's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
163 views

A question on subgroup-restricted irrationality measures

The irrationality measure μ(x) of a positive irrational number x is defined to be the supremum of the exponents e such that |x - p/q| < 1/q^e has an infinite number of solutions p/q. By the ...
Gene Ward Smith's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
148 views

Rational solutions to $\cos(\lambda \pi) = \cos^2(a\pi) - \cos(b\pi) \sin^2(a\pi) $, with $a,b \in \mathbb{Q}$

In a similar vein to this question, I am trying to understand the occurrence of rational solutions $\lambda$ to the following equation $$\cos(\lambda \pi) = \cos^2 (a\pi) - \cos ( b\pi ) \sin^2 \left(...
Mary_Smith's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
120 views

Question on recursive formulas for $\eta(2 n+1)$ and $\beta(2 n)$ where $n\in\mathbb{N}$

This question is a refinement of my related MSE question which was asked over 2 years ago and no answers have yet been posted. Consider the following formulas for the Dirichlet eta function $\eta(s)$ ...
Steven Clark's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
243 views

The power of irrationality: ${\rm sin}(x) + {\rm sin}(\pi x)$ [closed]

I'm a physicist studying undulatory phenomena. Reducing the problem, I find the issue lies on the relative irrationality of the angular frequencies of two superimposed waves. To state it simply, ...
Arc's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
256 views

Ergodic Theory and Euler-Mascheroni Constant

I am highly interested in doing research on proving irrationality of some specific numbers like Euler-Mascheroni Constant or $\zeta(5)$. A professor guided me that arithmetic nature of constants are a ...
user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
75 views

On the degree of irrationality of two irrational numbers and their rational (in)dependence

Let $x$ and $y$ be some irrational numbers. If the degree of irrationality of $x$ is the same as that of $y$, is it necessarily the case that $x$ and $y$ are rationally dependent ? ADDENDUM: What if $...
PRIMES is in P.'s user avatar