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.

An irrational number is a real number that cannot be expressed as a quotient of two integers, i.e. cannot be expressed in the form $\dfrac{a}{b}$, with $a,b\in\mathbb{Z}$. We write $\mathbb{I}=\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}$.

Some examples of irrational numbers are $\sqrt{2}, e, \pi$ and $\zeta(3)$.

2478 questions
9
votes
3 answers

Is sum of roots of 2 always irrational?

Define the sequence $r(k)= \sum_{n=2}^k 2^{\frac{1}{n}}$ Is $r(k)$ irrational for every natural $ k\geq 2$?
Nea
  • 135
  • 6
8
votes
5 answers

Prove the irrationality of $0.235711131719...$

How can I prove that the number formed by concatenating the primes in order i.e. $0.235711131719...$ is irrational. I know I have to demonstrate that it has no period, but I'll be so thankful if someone can explain very clear, including all cases.
8
votes
3 answers

sum of irrational numbers - are there nontrivial examples?

I know that the sum of irrational numbers does not have to be irrational. For example $\sqrt2+\left(-\sqrt2\right)$ is equal to $0$. But what I am wondering is there any example where the sum of two irrational numbers isn't obviously rational like…
Adam
  • 3,422
  • 1
  • 33
  • 50
8
votes
4 answers

Irrational$^\text{Irrational}$

How do I compute $\text{(irrational)}^{\text{(irrational)}}$ up to a required number of decimals say m, in the fastest way ? (one way is of course compute both the irrational numbers to a precision much larger than m and then solve it... but you…
7
votes
5 answers

Why there are irrational numbers?

I do not quite get it. Why can't we represent all real numbers as a sum of rational numbers? Why do we need irrational numbers? For…
Kira
  • 261
  • 2
  • 11
7
votes
6 answers

Irrational equation $\left(x^{3}-3x+1\right)\sqrt{x^{2}-1}+x^{4}-3x^{2}+x+1=0$

I saw the problem from one math competition: $$\left(x^{3}-3x+1\right)\sqrt{x^{2}-1}+x^{4}-3x^{2}+x+1=0$$. I tried to solve it this way: \begin{align*} & \left(x^{3}-3x+1\right)\sqrt{x^{2}-1}+x^{4}-3x^{2}+x+1=0\\ \Leftrightarrow\,\, &…
JohnB
  • 333
7
votes
1 answer

Normal Numbers as members of a larger set?

Is there a named set of numbers (containing, as a subset, the Normal Numbers) comprised of numbers that contain every finite sequence of digits at least once? (The Normal Numbers have all finite sequences of the same length present uniformly, which…
7
votes
4 answers

Is this number irrational?

Is the following (decimal) number irrational? 0.10100100010000100000100000010000000100... etc. My intuition tells me it is irrational. My informal "proof" is simply that it doesn't contain a repeating set of digits. For irrationality, is it both a…
njr101
  • 285
6
votes
2 answers

Difference between irrational numbers with and without a pattern.

I'm not sure how to talk about what I want to talk about, so I'll give some examples. The number $\pi$ is irrational and has no repeating pattern, but is computable by an easy rule; divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter. Now consider…
6
votes
0 answers

Prove that $\sum_{i=0}^n \sqrt{i}$ is irrational.

Prove that $1+\sqrt{2}+\sqrt{3}+\dots+\sqrt{n}$ is irrational for every natural number $n\ge2$.
Ma2340
  • 61
6
votes
1 answer

For integers $n \neq 0$ is $\sin n$ irrational or transcendental?

For integers $n \neq 0$ is $\sin n$ irrational or transcendental? This arose from another question. I would hypothesize yes and yes, possibly with proof for irrationality existing and but not for the more difficult property of…
Simon S
  • 26,524
6
votes
3 answers

certain proofs of the irrationality of $\sqrt{2}$

I had the impression that there might be proofs of the irrationality of $\sqrt{2}$ that showed that $$ \left|\frac a b - \sqrt{2} \right| \ge (\text{something possibly depending on $a$ or $b$}) >0 $$ where $a,b\in\mathbb{Z}$. But the one I saw in…
5
votes
1 answer

How to study the irrational numbers with a high school math background?

Recently a friend posed the question "can the product of two irrational numbers be rational?" We the trivial answers like for example $\sqrt{2}\sqrt{8} = 4$. I have become somewhat obsessed with the question and I would like to ask if anyone would…
Tephra
  • 153
5
votes
1 answer

What is the sum of $4\sqrt{28}$ and $3\sqrt{7}$ ?

As far as I can simplify it - $$4\sqrt{7*4} + 3\sqrt{7} = 8\sqrt{7} + 3 \sqrt{7} = \sqrt{7} * 11$$ However , The options for the correct answer are - A) $ 8/3$ B) $ 16/3$ C) $ 18/3$ D) $24/3$ I am a ninth grader so please try to explain in…
5
votes
2 answers

What irrational number has the simplest calculation in terms of computation?

I came across https://github.com/philipl/pifs which is a fancy way of storing data. And a thought struck my mind, is it so that Pi is the simplest irrational number to calculate? So the Question is. What irrational number is simplest to calculate…
1
2
3
14 15