Not sure where you’re going with the decimal thing. Pi had infinite digits in any base because it’s irrational.
Comment on suck it, math nerds
h3ndrik@feddit.de 9 months agoWas 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.
lolcatnip@reddthat.com 9 months ago
h3ndrik@feddit.de 9 months 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’.
DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 9 months ago
Can pi be expressed with a finite amount of digits in another number system?
Donjuanme@lemmy.world 9 months ago
How about a pi based system, then pi is 1.
mrsemi@lemmy.world 9 months ago
h3ndrik@feddit.de 9 months ago
You’re correct.
For reference: en.wikipedia.org/…/Non-integer_base_of_numeration
33550336@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Possible, but then the diameter would be an irrational number
Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 months ago
I don’t think there’s any technical reason we can’t count in base pi
lolcatnip@reddthat.com 9 months ago
I’m pretty happy with being able to write integers in a finite number of digits. Wouldn’t want to give that up.
mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 months ago
Well we need an integer base number system…
Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 months ago
“A base is usually a whole number bigger than 1, although non-integer bases are also mathematically possible.”
simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_(mathematics)