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Re: PHYS-L digest 914





Darwin Z. Palima wrote:

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?

Darwin Z. Palima
University of the Philippines

An irrational number is a number which cannot be expressed as a ratio of
_integers_.
Given a circumference and a diameter if BOTH were integers then pi would be
rational. But it turns out that there is no circle that has both an integer
diameter and an integer circumference, so pi is irrational.

David Emigh