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A stronger result is the following: [31] Every rational number in the interval ((/) /,) can be written either as a a for some irrational number a or as n n for some natural number n. Similarly, [ 31 ] every positive rational number can be written either as a a a {\displaystyle a^{a^{a}}} for some irrational number a or as n n n {\displaystyle n ...
Written in 1873, this proof uses the characterization of as the smallest positive number whose half is a zero of the cosine function and it actually proves that is irrational. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] As in many proofs of irrationality, it is a proof by contradiction .
In 1840, Liouville published a proof of the fact that e 2 is irrational [10] followed by a proof that e 2 is not a root of a second-degree polynomial with rational coefficients. [11] This last fact implies that e 4 is irrational. His proofs are similar to Fourier's proof of the irrationality of e.
This means that is not a rational number; that is to say, is irrational. This proof was hinted at by Aristotle, in his Analytica Priora, §I.23. [12] It appeared first as a full proof in Euclid's Elements, as proposition 117 of Book X. However, since the early 19th century, historians have agreed that this proof is an interpolation and not ...
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 ...
The following 1953 proof by Dov Jarden has been widely used as an example of a non-constructive proof since at least 1970: [4] [5] CURIOSA 339. A Simple Proof That a Power of an Irrational Number to an Irrational Exponent May Be Rational. is either rational or irrational. If it is rational, our statement is proved.
The Pythagoreans are credited with the proof of the existence of irrational numbers. [1] [2] When the ratio of the lengths of two line segments is irrational, the line segments themselves (not just their lengths) are also described as being incommensurable.
The following famous example of a nonconstructive proof shows that there exist two irrational numbers a and b such that is a rational number. This proof uses that 2 {\displaystyle {\sqrt {2}}} is irrational (an easy proof is known since Euclid ), but not that 2 2 {\displaystyle {\sqrt {2}}^{\sqrt {2}}} is irrational (this is true, but the proof ...