Comment on suck it, math nerds

• GnomeKat@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  Putting things in base 10 is also a definition. Digits aren’t special.

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  • h3ndrik@feddit.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Was going to say the same. Also π isn’t infinite. Far from it. it’s not even bigger than 4. It’s representation in the decimal system is just so that it can’t be written there with a finite number of decimal places. But you could just write “π”. It’s short, concise and exact.

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    • DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Can pi be expressed with a finite amount of digits in another number system?

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      • Donjuanme@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        How about a pi based system, then pi is 1.

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      • Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        I don’t think there’s any technical reason we can’t count in base pi

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    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Not sure where you’re going with the decimal thing. Pi had infinite digits in any base because it’s irrational.

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      • h3ndrik@feddit.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        I thought that was the joke in the comic? That we can’t know numbers exactly that have an infinite decimal expansion. That’d be true for some rational numbers like a third, if you change the basis of the numeral system it’d be different numbers. And irrational numbers too if you have a integer base. But I’d argue how we write down a number isn’t what determines ‘exactness’.

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  • mrsemi@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    What if I count in base pi

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• HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  That doesnt make a difference. You can find the exact circumference of a circle, you just cant express it in the decimal system as a number (thats why we have a symbol for it so you can still express the exact value)

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