Supposedly, pi can be computed ad infinitum, without ever repeating itself. At least so I've heard. But I'm having trouble imagining how, with only 10 digits to use, could you possibly never, eventually, be forced to repeat the sequence.
Patrick
at March 16, 2006 8:48 AM
You can almost certainly find some sequence of digits in pi that repeats a sequence in a different position. What you don't have is the situation where there is some specific sequence of numbers that continuously repeats, one after the other, infinitely (e.g. 123123123...). That is why pi and other irrational numbers are considered nonrepeating.
Dale
at March 16, 2006 9:49 AM
There's much more to pi than that one page.
Details from "Cecil Adams" (sorry, I can't hotlink like the pro's):
It's cooter-like; all of life's a circle.
(Heh.)
Crid at March 16, 2006 6:54 AM
Supposedly, pi can be computed ad infinitum, without ever repeating itself. At least so I've heard. But I'm having trouble imagining how, with only 10 digits to use, could you possibly never, eventually, be forced to repeat the sequence.
Patrick at March 16, 2006 8:48 AM
You can almost certainly find some sequence of digits in pi that repeats a sequence in a different position. What you don't have is the situation where there is some specific sequence of numbers that continuously repeats, one after the other, infinitely (e.g. 123123123...). That is why pi and other irrational numbers are considered nonrepeating.
Dale at March 16, 2006 9:49 AM
There's much more to pi than that one page.
Details from "Cecil Adams" (sorry, I can't hotlink like the pro's):
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_357.html
Todd Everett at March 16, 2006 11:06 AM
Can't we just round up?
Lena at March 16, 2006 9:34 PM
I'll round up to chocolate cream pi.
Amy Alkon at March 16, 2006 11:19 PM
Musical version: http://pi.ytmnd.com/
Gary at March 17, 2006 9:12 PM
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