Questions tagged [irrational-numbers]

Questions about real numbers not expressible as the quotient of two integers. For questions on determining whether a number is irrational, use the (rationality-testing) tag instead.

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Represent 0.101100111000... as a infinite series.

I want to prove that 0.101100111000... is irrational. I found a formula for a similar number: $$ \sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{10^{\frac{1}{2}(m^2 + m)}}=0.10100100010000... $$ But the infinite series ...
Mathematician prime's user avatar
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1 answer
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For continuous $h:\mathbb{R\longrightarrow R}$, prove $h(x)=0$ for x in $\mathbb{Q}$ implies $h(x)=0$ for x in $\mathbb{R}$

The problem statement is as follows: For continuous $h:\mathbb{R\longrightarrow R}$, prove $h(x)=0$ for $x$ in $\mathbb{Q}$ implies $h(x)=0$ for $x$ in $\mathbb{R}$. My attempt feels a bit awkward and ...
Christopher Lee's user avatar
-4 votes
2 answers
124 views

Does irrational numbers real numbers [closed]

I started to learn math, and the book say that a.d1d2d3…. with infinity numbers after is a number. But how can it be if it’s will never reach end? Why is this the definition of irrational number? I ...
mika's user avatar
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How to prove $\sqrt[3]{7}$+$\sqrt{5}$ is irrational?

We are learning the rational root theorem right now. It is pretty clear how to prove a number is irrational when we know how to construct a polynomial that only includes integer and has the irrational ...
user1161290's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
315 views

Criteria for irrationality of Euler's constant

Define for $n\in\mathbb{N}$, $$I_n=\int_0^1\int_0^1 -\frac{(x(1-x)y(1-y))^n}{(1-xy)\log xy}dx dy$$ In this article it is proved that $$I_n=\binom{2n}{n}\gamma+L_n-A_n$$ where $L_n=d^{-1}_{2n}\log S_n$,...
Max's user avatar
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1 answer
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Buffon's Needle Problem

Buffon's Needle Problem "Suppose we have a floor made of parallel strips of wood, each the same width, and we drop a needle onto the floor. What is the probability that the needle will lie across ...
Agent Smith's user avatar
2 votes
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Sum of fractional parts greater not equal to $1$

I was trying to solve Putnam's B6 from 1995: "For any $a>0$,set $S(a)=\{\lfloor{na}\rfloor|n\in \mathbb{N}\}$. Show that there are no three positive reals $a,b,c$ such that $$S(a)\cap S(b)=S(b)...
João Rafael Silva de Azeredo's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
339 views

Do permutations on the decimal expansions of irrational numbers retain the property of irrationality?

Suppose we have an irrational number with the following decimal expansion: $$A = a_0 \ a_1 \ a_2 \ a_3 \ a_4 \ a_5 \ a_6 \dots $$ Now, construct a new real number through a permutation on the decimals ...
Max Muller's user avatar
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20 votes
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Where will irrationals fit on the number line?

Now this might be a very dumb question but this has been bothering me from some days. Imagine I want to create the real number line and for that I start with the rational numbers. So I start to put ...
Ankit's user avatar
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Can the irrationality of $\sqrt3$ be proven geometrically by infinite descent, similarly to Tom Apostol's proof of the irrationality of $\sqrt2$?

A geometric proof of the irrationality of $\sqrt{2}$ works by constructing two right isosceles triangles with legs $n$ and hypotenuse $m$, and finding in the construction similar triangles with legs $...
Stewart's user avatar
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Irrational Numbers and Surjection from $[0,1)$ to $[0,1)^2$

I am searching for some clues or solutions of the question below: For $\sqrt{2}=1.41421356\cdots$, Is $1.1236\cdots$ irrational? To say more formally: Let $f$ a function from $[0,1)$ to $[0,1)^2$ ...
NumNum's user avatar
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2 answers
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Why is root three an irrational number? [closed]

Why is $\sqrt{3}$ an irrational number since it can be expressed as ratio of two numbers $(2\sqrt{3}+3)$ and $(2+\sqrt{3})$ ?
Sitanshu Jha's user avatar
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1 answer
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Limitations of rational numbers [closed]

I have been looking at the popular proofs that rational numbers have limitations when trying to define real-world lengths. For instance, there does not exist a rational $c$ such that $c^2=2$. ...
Veak's user avatar
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Necessary and sufficient condition for a number to be algebraic

I need a necessary and sufficient condition for a number to be algebraic over integers. I got this on wikipedia see here If $\alpha$ is an irrational number which is the root of an irreducible ...
Max's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
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Proving that the ratio of the hypotenuse of an isosceles right triangle to the leg is irrational

In an isosceles right angled triangle, vertex opposite to the hypotenuse which has $90^\circ$ is always on the perpendicular bisector of the hypotenuse. So my question is, if we consider a sides of ...
Vinayak Ghadge's user avatar
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2 answers
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Is this a valid way of showing that there are uncountably many irrational numbers?

The definition of a countably infinite set is that each element can be paired up with a natural number. The basic goal of the proof is to show that an infinite number of distinct irrational numbers ...
iwjueph94rgytbhr's user avatar
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Kodaira Kunihiko's exercise problem.

I once heard that in the freshman year of university of the mathematician Kodaira Kunihiko, he solved a problem stating that "the base e of the natural exponential function is not an irrational ...
Kelvin's user avatar
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1 answer
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Problem in the proof of root 2 is irrational

The standard way we prove that the square root of $2$ is irrational is the following: Let us assume the square root of $2$ is rational and is equal to $\frac{a}{b}$ where $a$ and $b$ are co-prime. ∴$\...
RON's user avatar
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Is the decimal $0.1....1$ with $1$ in every $10^i$ an irrational or a rational number?

I came across this question: "Is the decimal $0.1....1$ with $1$ in every $10^i$ an irrational or a rational number?" and I am trying to figure it out, but I don't know where to start. The ...
average_discrete_math_enjoyer's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
119 views

Let $a$ and $b$ be rationals. Prove that if $a<b$ then there exists an irrational $x$ such that $a<x<b$.

Let $a$ and $b$ be rationals. Prove that if $a<b$ then there exists an irrational $x$ such that $a<x<b$. Before anyone starts linking other posts, I have gone through the following posts. ...
Sunaina Pati's user avatar
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4 votes
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Does an algebraic irrational number always have all digits from the base?

If you take $\sqrt{2}$ in base $10$ and remove all digits $2$-$9$ you will get something like $1.1100010010101$... which i believe to be transcendental, and it got me curious, could there be an ...
Wagner Martins's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
79 views

Name for rational connection between irrational numbers

I'm trying to find the established name, if there is one, for what I'll call "rational connection" in this post. So we would say some irrational number $x$ is "rationally connected&...
Wagner Martins's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
49 views

How can two irrational numbers add to a rational number when each doesn't have an irrational part that can simply cancel out? [duplicate]

I think this is asking the same question as here except that I don't quite understand the accepted answer. For instance, I can produce(*) what I think is a counterexample: $$\sqrt[3]{26+15\sqrt{3}} + ...
Michael's user avatar
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14 votes
3 answers
2k views

What's the "simplest" equation with only rational coefficients that produces a graph with no two rational coordinates

What's the "simplest" equation with only rational coefficients that produces a graph with no rational coordinates? Obviously I haven't precisely defined "simple" so any answer will ...
MilesZew's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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Intersection of translations of irrationals [closed]

Let $l>0$ and $\mathbb{Q}^c$ denotes set of irrationals. We define $$ E=\cap_{x\in(-l,l)}( \mathbb{Q}^c+x), $$ where $\mathbb{Q}^c+x=\{q+x:q\in\mathbb{Q}^c\}.$ Is it easy to show that $E$ cannot ...
Mathemajician's user avatar
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Is $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\Gamma(n)/n^n$ demonstrably irrational?

The Question What do we know about $$\xi(z)=\frac{1}{\Gamma(z)}\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{\Gamma(n+z-1)}{n^n}= \int_0^1 \frac{dx}{(1+x\ln x)^z} $$ Specifically, what can be said about $\xi$ regarding ...
Mason's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
75 views

Does simple proof of the irrationality of $\sqrt{2}$ extend to $\sqrt{n}$, where $n$ is square-free?

This question is about extending a common proof of the irrationality of $\sqrt{2}$ to $\sqrt{p}$ for prime $p$, and then asking which other kinds of number $n$ does the same proof tell us that $\sqrt{...
Penelope's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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Can a logarithm be written as a power using only rational numbers?

I was thinking about the fact that we can write certain irrational numbers as the result of an exponentiation of rational numbers, for example $\sqrt2=2^{0.5}$. My question is, can a irrational ...
Rodrigo's user avatar
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1 answer
68 views

Proving there are no rational cubic roots between two $f^3$ and $(f+1)^3$

Consider the difference between two consecutive positive cubes $f^3$ and $(f+1)^3$ is given by $3f^2 + 3f + 1$. If $f$ is a positive integer, there are no integer solutions for $\sqrt[3]{3f^2 + 3f + 1}...
DRG's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
76 views

How can I prove that $\pi+\pi^2$ is irrational?

I am trying to prove that $\pi+\pi^2$ is irrational assuming that $\pi$ is transcendental. My work: I noticed that at least one of $\pi+\pi^2$ and $\pi-\pi^2$ is transcendental. (Because algebraic ...
Adam's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
35 views

What are integers $a$ and $b$ if $a\sqrt2 + \sqrt3=0$? And its generalisation. [duplicate]

What are the integers $a$ and $b$ if $a\sqrt2 + b\sqrt3 = 0$? I suppose answer should be $(a, b) = (0, 0)$. But I am unable to justify it. Generalisation: What are integers $a_i$'s if $$ a_1\sqrt{p_1} ...
prashant sharma's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
109 views

Irrational root of polynomial problem (Putnam 1976/A4)

Let $p(x) ≡ x^3 + ax^2 + bx - 1$, and $q(x) ≡ x^3 + cx^2 + dx + 1$ be polynomials with integer coefficients. Let $α$ be a root of $p(x) = 0$. $p(x)$ is irreducible over the rationals. $α + 1$ is a ...
James H's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
143 views

Can a fraction of irrational numbers be an integer (specific case)? [duplicate]

Can the fraction $\frac{\pi b}{a - e b}$ where $e$ is the usual Euler constant, and $a$,$b$ are integers, be equal to an non-zero integer ?
Abel's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
278 views

Can one establish the irrationality of $\varphi$ and other numbers with aperiodic tilings?

Background The Penrose tiling P2 is aperiodic and consists of two quadrilateral shapes: kites and darts. It is depicted in the image below, with kites in blue and darts in red:                         ...
Max Muller's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
115 views

Why this reductio ad absurdum works to show $\sqrt7$ is irrational but it does not work for $\sqrt[3]8$?

I'm trying to refresh my mathematics after 10 years and I'm having some problems understanding this. The following is used to show how the square root of 7 is not a rational number: $\sqrt{7} = \frac{...
Misko Jones's user avatar
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0 answers
38 views

Prove that there is a irrational number between two real numbers. [duplicate]

I wanna prove this statement: $\forall a, b \in \mathbb{R}, a < b \exists x \in \mathbb{R} \setminus \mathbb{Q} : a < x < b$ So basically I want to prove, that there is a irrational number ...
Lachkus's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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Proving the divergence of a number-theoretic sequence

I have recently been trying to solve a problem involving infinite series, and there is one which I have been able to reduce to a problem in Number Theory, which, however, still gives me trouble. The ...
Barbatulka's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
41 views

Is the following function eventually positive?

Consider the function $$E(m)={\sqrt [3] {3}}{m} - [{\sqrt [3] {3}}{m}]-{\frac{1}{m}}$$ Here $[x]$ denotes the integer part of the real number $x$ and $m$ runs through the positive integers. Is the ...
student's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
70 views

Difference betwwen $(\sqrt{2}, \pi)\cap \mathbb Q$ and $[\sqrt{2}, \pi]\cap \mathbb Q$ in $\mathbb Q$

Consider two metric spaces $X,Y$ such as $Y\subseteq X$. Let $A\subseteq Y$. $A$ is open in $Y$ $\iff$ $\exists B\subseteq X$ open in $X$ such that $ A=B\cap Y$ According to this theorem, the set $(\...
niobium's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
210 views

Dedekind cuts: How to prove irrationality and how to compute decimal expansion in practice

When defining irrational numbers like $e$ and $\pi$ via Dedekind cuts (like for example here), how can one prove that these numbers are in fact irrational? All irrationality proofs of $e$ that I know ...
Martin's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
114 views

Is this proof that $\sqrt{6}$ is irrational valid?

I was doing some grading and came across the following proof that a student gave for $\sqrt 6$ being irrational: Assume $\sqrt{6} \in \mathbb Q$. Then $\sqrt{6} = \frac{a}{b}$ for some $a,b \in \...
Clyde Kertzer's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
48 views

Suppose $n \in \Bbb N$ has a root that isn't whole, prove $\sqrt n$ is irrational

Suppose $n \in \Bbb N$ has a square root that isn't whole, prove $\sqrt n$ is irrational. The exercise wants me to prove it in the following steps: Suppose $\sqrt n$ is rational, then there exists a ...
Kantig Shoter's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
92 views

Another proof of e is irrational?

I find some proof here, but can I prove it in the following way? Assume $e$ is rational, then $e=\frac{p}q$, both $p$ and $q$ are positive integers. By Lagrange's Remainder Theorem, $$e^x=1+x+\frac{1}{...
MathFail's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
91 views

Infinite Series of Rational Terms

Does anyone have a counterexample to the following conjecture? Conjecture: Suppose that the terms $a_{n}$ is a sequence of rational numbers and further that for all real numbers $r$, there are ...
Robert's user avatar
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-2 votes
1 answer
92 views

Proof by contradiction - square root 2 is irrational [duplicate]

Click Here For Image To Proof With reference to the above image, why is it for this proof that sqrt(2) is irrational, after making the first assumption that sqrt(2) is rational, we can also make what ...
rustlecho's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
40 views

Creating an inequality for the numerator significance

An open mathematical problem is if the Euler-Mascheroni constant is irrational and if so transcendental. There has been some progress in (dis)proving this. It is known that: $\gamma\in\mathbb{Q}\...
Kamal Saleh's user avatar
  • 4,470
3 votes
2 answers
63 views

Refute the assertion that $a^b$ is irrational for all irrational real numbers $a$,$b$.

I found this exercise in the first tome of Ken Binmore's Foundations of Analysis. I know that similar questions exist in MSE so I will try to avoid the duplicate. I know also Eugenia Cheng (2004) ...
Dimitris's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
38 views

Bijective correspondence from all irrational numbers to irrational numbers of any open interval?

Can you example a Bijective correspondence from all irrational numbers to irrational numbers of any open interval (for example (0, 1) interval)? Is it even possible? \begin{equation} f: \mathbb{Q}^{c} ...
CompuPhysics's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
121 views

On the irrationality of $\zeta(\frac{3}{2})$

It is known that $$\zeta(s)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{1}{n^s}$$Where $\zeta$ is riemann's zeta function. Usually people make $s$ an integer. But I thought of non integer values of $s$ and started with $s=...
Kamal Saleh's user avatar
  • 4,470
14 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why square root of $1$ is $1$ but square root of $0.1$ is $0.316$, again square root of $0.01$ is $0.1$?

I would like to understand the reason behind this pattern: $$\begin{align} \sqrt 1 &= 1 \\[4pt] \sqrt{0.1} &= 0.31622 \\[4pt] \sqrt{0.01} &= 0.1 \\[4pt] \sqrt{0.001} &=0.03162 \\[...
Edoardo's user avatar
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