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In the 1760s, Johann Heinrich Lambert was the first to prove that the number π is irrational, meaning it cannot be expressed as a fraction /, where and are both integers. In the 19th century, Charles Hermite found a proof that requires no prerequisite knowledge beyond basic calculus.
A more recent proof by Wadim Zudilin is more reminiscent of Apéry's original proof, [6] and also has similarities to a fourth proof by Yuri Nesterenko. [7] These later proofs again derive a contradiction from the assumption that ζ ( 3 ) {\displaystyle \zeta (3)} is rational by constructing sequences that tend to zero but are bounded below by ...
Perhaps the numbers most easy to prove irrational are certain logarithms. Here is a proof by contradiction that log 2 3 is irrational (log 2 3 ≈ 1.58 > 0). Assume log 2 3 is rational.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, there was much work on irrational and transcendental numbers. Lambert (1761) gave a flawed proof that π cannot be rational; Legendre (1794) completed the proof [11] and showed that π is not the square root of a rational number. [12]
On the other hand, Euler proved that irrational numbers require an infinite sequence to express them as continued fractions. [1] Moreover, this sequence is eventually periodic (again, so that there are natural numbers N and p such that for every n ≥ N we have a n + p = a n ), if and only if x is a quadratic irrational .
Although this has so far not produced any results on specific numbers, it is known that infinitely many of the odd zeta constants ζ(2n + 1) are irrational. [7] In particular at least one of ζ(5), ζ(7), ζ(9), and ζ(11) must be irrational. [8] Apéry's constant has not yet been proved transcendental, but it is known to be an algebraic period ...
The theorem is also known variously as the Hermite–Lindemann theorem and the Hermite–Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem.Charles Hermite first proved the simpler theorem where the α i exponents are required to be rational integers and linear independence is only assured over the rational integers, [4] [5] a result sometimes referred to as Hermite's theorem. [6]
For example, the square root of 2 is an irrational number, but it is not a transcendental number as it is a root of the polynomial equation x 2 − 2 = 0. The golden ratio (denoted or ) is another irrational number that is not transcendental, as it is a root of the polynomial equation x 2 − x − 1 = 0.