English

Digits of pi: limits to the seeming randomness

Number Theory 2014-11-17 v1

Abstract

The decimal digits of π\pi are widely believed to behave like as statistically independent random variables taking the values 0,1,2,3,4,50, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8,96, 7, 8, 9 with equal probabilities 1/101/10. In this article, first, another similar conjecture is explored - the seemingly almost random behaviour of digits in the base 3 representations of powers 2n2^n. This conjecture seems to confirm well - it passes even the tests inspired by the Central Limit Theorem and the Law of the Iterated Logarithm. After this, a similar testing of the sequences of digits in the decimal representations of the numbers π\pi, ee and 2\sqrt{2} was performed. The result looks surprising: unlike the digits in the base 3 representations of 2n2^n, instead of oscillations with amplitudes required by the Law of the Iterated Logarithm, convergence to zero is observed. If, for such "analytically" defined irrational numbers, the observed behaviour remains intact ad infinitum, then the seeming randomness of their digits is only a limited one.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1411.3911,
  title  = {Digits of pi: limits to the seeming randomness},
  author = {Karlis Podnieks},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1411.3911},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

7 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T06:59:04.986Z