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Proof That E Is Irrational
The number ''e'' was introduced by Jacob Bernoulli in 1683. More than half a century later, Euler, who had been a student of Jacob's younger brother Johann, proved that ''e'' is irrational; that is, that it cannot be expressed as the quotient of two integers. Euler's proof Euler wrote the first proof of the fact that ''e'' is irrational in 1737 (but the text was only published seven years later). He computed the representation of ''e'' as a simple continued fraction, which is :e = ; 1, 2, 1, 1, 4, 1, 1, 6, 1, 1, 8, 1, 1, \ldots, 2n, 1, 1, \ldots Since this continued fraction is infinite and every rational number has a terminating continued fraction, ''e'' is irrational. A short proof of the previous equality is known. Since the simple continued fraction of ''e'' is not periodic, this also proves that ''e'' is not a root of a quadratic polynomial with rational coefficients; in particular, ''e''2 is irrational. Fourier's proof The most well-known proof is Joseph Fourier's pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
E (mathematical Constant)
The number is a mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828 that is the base of a logarithm, base of the natural logarithm and exponential function. It is sometimes called Euler's number, after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, though this can invite confusion with Euler numbers, or with Euler's constant, a different constant typically denoted \gamma. Alternatively, can be called Napier's constant after John Napier. The Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli discovered the constant while studying compound interest. The number is of great importance in mathematics, alongside 0, 1, Pi, , and . All five appear in one formulation of Euler's identity e^+1=0 and play important and recurring roles across mathematics. Like the constant , is Irrational number, irrational, meaning that it cannot be represented as a ratio of integers, and moreover it is Transcendental number, transcendental, meaning that it is not a root of any non-zero polynomial with rational coefficie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Liouville
Joseph Liouville ( ; ; 24 March 1809 – 8 September 1882) was a French mathematician and engineer. Life and work He was born in Saint-Omer in France on 24 March 1809. His parents were Claude-Joseph Liouville (an army officer) and Thérèse Liouville (née Balland). Liouville gained admission to the École Polytechnique in 1825 and graduated in 1827. Just like Augustin-Louis Cauchy before him, Liouville studied engineering at École des Ponts et Chaussées after graduating from the Polytechnique, but opted instead for a career in mathematics. After some years as an assistant at various institutions including the École Centrale Paris, he was appointed as professor at the École Polytechnique in 1838. He obtained a chair in mathematics at the Collège de France in 1850 and a chair in mechanics at the Faculté des Sciences in 1857. Besides his academic achievements, he was very talented in organisational matters. Liouville founded the ''Journal de Mathématiques Pures et A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diophantine Approximation
In number theory, the study of Diophantine approximation deals with the approximation of real numbers by rational numbers. It is named after Diophantus of Alexandria. The first problem was to know how well a real number can be approximated by rational numbers. For this problem, a rational number ''p''/''q'' is a "good" approximation of a real number ''α'' if the absolute value of the difference between ''p''/''q'' and ''α'' may not decrease if ''p''/''q'' is replaced by another rational number with a smaller denominator. This problem was solved during the 18th century by means of simple continued fractions. Knowing the "best" approximations of a given number, the main problem of the field is to find sharp upper and lower bounds of the above difference, expressed as a function of the denominator. It appears that these bounds depend on the nature of the real numbers to be approximated: the lower bound for the approximation of a rational number by another rational number i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proof That π Is Irrational
In the 1760s, Johann Heinrich Lambert was the first to prove that the number is irrational, meaning it cannot be expressed as a fraction a/b, where a and b are both integers. In the 19th century, Charles Hermite found a proof that requires no prerequisite knowledge beyond basic calculus. Three simplifications of Hermite's proof are due to Mary Cartwright, Ivan Niven, and Nicolas Bourbaki. Another proof, which is a simplification of Lambert's proof, is due to Miklós Laczkovich. Many of these are proofs by contradiction. In 1882, Ferdinand von Lindemann proved that \pi is not just irrational, but transcendental as well. Lambert's proof In 1761, Johann Heinrich Lambert proved that \pi is irrational by first showing that this continued fraction expansion holds: :\tan(x) = \cfrac. Then Lambert proved that if x is non-zero and rational, then this expression must be irrational. Since \tan\tfrac\pi4 =1, it follows that \tfrac\pi4 is irrational, and thus \pi is also irrational. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lindemann–Weierstrass Theorem
In transcendental number theory, the Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem is a result that is very useful in establishing the transcendence of numbers. It states the following: In other words, the extension field \mathbb(e^, \dots, e^) has transcendence degree over \mathbb. An equivalent formulation from , is the following: This equivalence transforms a linear relation over the algebraic numbers into an algebraic relation over \mathbb by using the fact that a symmetric polynomial whose arguments are all conjugates of one another gives a rational number. The theorem is named for Ferdinand von Lindemann and Karl Weierstrass. Lindemann proved in 1882 that is transcendental for every non-zero algebraic number thereby establishing that is transcendental (see below). Weierstrass proved the above more general statement in 1885. The theorem, along with the Gelfond–Schneider theorem, is extended by Baker's theorem, and all of these would be further generalized by Schanuel's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcendental Number
In mathematics, a transcendental number is a real or complex number that is not algebraic: that is, not the root of a non-zero polynomial with integer (or, equivalently, rational) coefficients. The best-known transcendental numbers are and . The quality of a number being transcendental is called transcendence. Though only a few classes of transcendental numbers are known, partly because it can be extremely difficult to show that a given number is transcendental. Transcendental numbers are not rare: indeed, almost all real and complex numbers are transcendental, since the algebraic numbers form a countable set, while the set of real numbers and the set of complex numbers are both uncountable sets, and therefore larger than any countable set. All transcendental real numbers (also known as real transcendental numbers or transcendental irrational numbers) are irrational numbers, since all rational numbers are algebraic. The converse is not true: Not all irrational numbers are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Characterizations Of The Exponential Function
In mathematics, the exponential function can be characterized in many ways. This article presents some common characterizations, discusses why each makes sense, and proves that they are all equivalent. The exponential function occurs naturally in many branches of mathematics. Walter Rudin called it "the most important function in mathematics". It is therefore useful to have multiple ways to define (or characterize) it. Each of the characterizations below may be more or less useful depending on context. The "product limit" characterization of the exponential function was discovered by Leonhard Euler. Characterizations The six most common definitions of the exponential function \exp(x)=e^x for real values x\in \mathbb are as follows. # ''Product limit.'' Define e^x by the limit:e^x = \lim_ \left(1+\frac x n \right)^n. # ''Power series.'' Define as the value of the infinite series e^x = \sum_^\infty = 1 + x + \frac + \frac + \frac + \cdots (Here denotes the factorial of . O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algebraic Number
In mathematics, an algebraic number is a number that is a root of a function, root of a non-zero polynomial in one variable with integer (or, equivalently, Rational number, rational) coefficients. For example, the golden ratio (1 + \sqrt)/2 is an algebraic number, because it is a root of the polynomial X^2 - X - 1, i.e., a solution of the equation x^2 - x - 1 = 0, and the complex number 1 + i is algebraic as a root of X^4 + 4. Algebraic numbers include all integers, rational numbers, and nth root, ''n''-th roots of integers. Algebraic complex numbers are closed under addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and hence form a field (mathematics), field, denoted \overline. The set of algebraic real numbers \overline \cap \R is also a field. Numbers which are not algebraic are called transcendental number, transcendental and include pi, and . There are countable set, countably many algebraic numbers, hence almost all real (or complex) numbers (in the sense of Lebesgue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcendental Number
In mathematics, a transcendental number is a real or complex number that is not algebraic: that is, not the root of a non-zero polynomial with integer (or, equivalently, rational) coefficients. The best-known transcendental numbers are and . The quality of a number being transcendental is called transcendence. Though only a few classes of transcendental numbers are known, partly because it can be extremely difficult to show that a given number is transcendental. Transcendental numbers are not rare: indeed, almost all real and complex numbers are transcendental, since the algebraic numbers form a countable set, while the set of real numbers and the set of complex numbers are both uncountable sets, and therefore larger than any countable set. All transcendental real numbers (also known as real transcendental numbers or transcendental irrational numbers) are irrational numbers, since all rational numbers are algebraic. The converse is not true: Not all irrational numbers are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Hermite
Charles Hermite () FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra. Hermite polynomials, Hermite interpolation, Hermite normal form, Hermitian operators, and cubic Hermite splines are named in his honor. One of his students was Henri Poincaré. He was the first to prove that '' e'', the base of natural logarithms, is a transcendental number. His methods were used later by Ferdinand von Lindemann to prove that is transcendental. Life Hermite was born in Dieuze, Moselle, on 24 December 1822, with a deformity in his right foot that would impair his gait throughout his life. He was the sixth of seven children of Ferdinand Hermite and his wife, Madeleine née Lallemand. Ferdinand worked in the drapery business of Madeleine's family while also pursuing a career as an artist. The drapery business relocated to Nan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Springer-Verlag
Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in Berlin, it expanded internationally in the 1960s, and through mergers in the 1990s and a sale to venture capitalists it fused with Wolters Kluwer and eventually became part of Springer Nature in 2015. Springer has major offices in Berlin, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, and New York City. History Julius Springer founded Springer-Verlag in Berlin in 1842 and his son Ferdinand Springer grew it from a small firm of 4 employees into Germany's then second-largest academic publisher with 65 staff in 1872.Chronology ". Springer Science+Business Media. In 1964, Springer expanded its business internationally, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proofs From THE BOOK
''Proofs from THE BOOK'' is a book of mathematical proofs by Martin Aigner and Günter M. Ziegler. The book is dedicated to the mathematician Paul Erdős, who often referred to "The Book" in which God keeps the most elegant proof of each mathematical theorem. During a lecture in 1985, Erdős said, "You don't have to believe in God, but you should believe in The Book." Content ''Proofs from THE BOOK'' contains 32 sections (45 in the sixth edition), each devoted to one theorem but often containing multiple proofs and related results. It spans a broad range of mathematical fields: number theory, geometry, Mathematical analysis, analysis, combinatorics and graph theory. Erdős himself made many suggestions for the book, but died before its publication. The book is illustrated by . It has gone through six editions in English, and has been translated into Persian, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Korean, Turkish, Russian, Spanish and Greek. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
