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Does Pi terminate or never?

CaveDave

Semicentenarian Troglodyte
CaveDave
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An acquaintance just told me that he had seen a newspaper article claiming an "ending to Pi had been discovered".:jaw-dropp

Now, as I have always understood it, Pi is a transcendental number that by definition can NEVER terminate. It, and others in that class, continue endlessly, adding precision but never ending.

Is it possible something changed and I missed it, or that I understood wrong?

PLEASE HELP! I know there are Bleeding Edge mathmeticians here that will know.:)

Cheers,

Dave
 
CaveDave said:
An acquaintance just told me that he had seen a newspaper article claiming an "ending to Pi had been discovered".:jaw-dropp
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Was it an April's Fool joke by the newspaper or by your friend?
 
Of course Pi terminates. I would write the terminal number down for you but I can’t find a piece of paper big enough.
 
ynot said:
Of course Pi terminates. I would write the terminal number down for you but I can’t find a piece of paper big enough.
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Why don't you simply tell us how many digits there are to the right of the decimal place before Pi starts to repeat?

Some things never change...
 
ynot said:
I would but it would take forever to tell you ;)
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Actually, it would be very easy for you to describe if you actually had an answer.

Since the knowledge that you are claiming contradicts what is provable, full of beans you are.
 
Complexity said:
Actually, it would be very easy for you to describe if you actually had an answer.

Since the knowledge that you are claiming contradicts what is provable, full of beans you are.
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Would it help for you to realise I'm merely joshin if I used alot of >>> :D:D:D:):):):cool::cool::eek::boggled::eye-poppi:jaw-dropp:blush::rolleyes::(:o:D:p
 
Damien Evans said:
I suppose it's possible that Pi has an end, but if it does it certainly hasn't been discovered yet.
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As Complexity is about to correctly tell you - NO IT ISN'T (possible). . . and it never will be.
 
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Outside of pure theoretical mathematics, Pi does terminate in a way. If, say, you are measuring Pi in meters, after a surprisingly small number of decimal places, you reach a measurement that is smaller than a planck length. If the 3 is 3 meters, about thirty five or so digits deep, the number becomes physically meaningless. The next digit would attempt divide a space that does not, for all practical purposes, exist.
 
Ladewig said:
Was it an April's Fool joke by the newspaper or by your friend?
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ddt said:
Or just a very badly informed journalist.
Your understanding is 100% correct, CaveDave.
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Much as I suspected. I could not see how that story could be true, but I have seen many wondrous things in my life...:D

Thank you all for your replies (including the humorous ones:))

I KNEW I would quickly discover the truth on this forum.:)

Cheers,

Dave
 
Loss Leader said:
Outside of pure theoretical mathematics, Pi does terminate in a way. If, say, you are measuring Pi in meters, after a surprisingly small number of decimal places, you reach a measurement that is smaller than a planck length. If the 3 is 3 meters, about thirty five or so digits deep, the number becomes physically meaningless. The next digit would attempt divide a space that does not, for all practical purposes, exist.
Click to expand...

Even with things like calculating the diameter of the observable universe, Pi reaches the limit of meaningful precision rather quickly. I don't have the figures at hand, but I remember Asimov calculating it in one of his essay series. Diameter of the observable universe calculated to less than the radius of a proton, or some such.

A
 
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