Re: PHYS-L digest 914

["Darwin Z. Palima" <dpalima@nip.upd.edu.ph>]

Dear listmembers,

Reading Bob Sciamanda's quote, I recall one question I had during
schooldays that I was afraid to ask the teacher about:

We were told that irrational numbers are numbers that cannot be expressed
as a fraction (or quotient of two numbers).

But looking at the circumference formula, pi is the quotient of
circumference and diameter...

any thoughts on this?

> From: "Bob Sciamanda" <trebor@velocity.net>
>
> Begin quote:
>
>  "The irrational number is a much neglected topic in the history of
> thought and a troublesome member of our number system. . . .  Such
> numbers must be used in order to represent lengths and they are,
> moreover, explicitly and implicitly involved in almost all of
> mathematics. Yet how can we add, subtract, multiply, or divide such
> numbers? For example, how can we add 2 and sqr(2)?  How do we divide
> sqr(7) by sqr(2)?
[rest of the quote snipped...]

Darwin Z. Palima
University of the Philippines