English

Which is greater: $\boldsymbol{e^\pi}$ or $\boldsymbol{\pi^{e}}$? An unorthodox solution to a classic puzzle

Classical Physics 2023-09-21 v1 History and Overview

Abstract

The question of the title is a famous puzzle in the field of recreational mathematics, and can be addressed by several approaches. A compilation of solutions, some of them very ingenious, can be found in [1]. In this contribution we present an alternative solution based on the second law of thermodynamics. The method can be extended to derive a more general result involving the exponential function.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.10826,
  title  = {Which is greater: $\boldsymbol{e^\pi}$ or $\boldsymbol{\pi^{e}}$? An unorthodox solution to a classic puzzle},
  author = {Andrés Vallejo and Italo Bove},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.10826},
  year   = {2023}
}