Related papers: A well-motivated proof that pi is irrational
We provide an alternative proof that $\sqrt{2}$ is irrational that does not begin with the assumption that $\sqrt{2}$ is in fact rational.
Nonmonotonic reasoning is a pattern of reasoning that allows an agent to make and retract (tentative) conclusions from inconclusive evidence. This paper gives a possible-worlds interpretation of the nonmonotonic reasoning problem based on…
Practicing mathematicians often assume that mathematical claims, when they are true, have good reasons to be true. Such a state of affairs is "unreasonable", in Wigner's sense, because basic results in computational complexity suggest that…
A simple geometric construction on the moduli spaces $\mathcal{M}_{0,n}$ of curves of genus $0$ with $n$ ordered marked points is described which gives a common framework for many irrationality proofs for zeta values. This construction…
We illustrate the power of Experimental Mathematics and Symbolic Computation to suggest irrationality proofs of natural constants, and the determination of their irrationality measures. Sometimes such proofs can be fully automated, but…
In this elementary note we prove that a polynomial with rational coefficients divides the derivative of some polynomial which splits in $\Q$ if and only if all of its irrational roots are real and simple. This provides an answer to a…
If no optimal propositional proof system exists, we (and independently Pudl\'ak) prove that ruling out length $t$ proofs of any unprovable sentence is hard. This mapping from unprovable to hard-to-prove sentences powerfully translates facts…
The purpose of this note is to give a short, selfcontained proof of the following result: A complex surface which is diffeomeorphic to a rational surface is rational.
Continued fractions are used to give an alternate proof of $e^{x/y}$ is irrational.
This survey text deals with irrationality, and linear independence over the rationals, of values at positive odd integers of Riemann zeta function. The first section gives all known proofs (and connections between them) of Ap\'ery's Theorem…
A sequence of coefficients that appeared in the evaluation of a rational integral has been shown to be unimodal. An alternative proof is presented.
A famous theorem of Zudilin states that at least one of the Riemann zeta values $\zeta(5), \zeta(7), \zeta(9), \zeta(11)$ is irrational. In this paper, we establish the $p$-adic analogue of Zudilin's theorem. As a weaker form of our result,…
Roger Apery's seminal method for proving irrationality is "turned on its head" and taught to computers, enabling a one second redux of the original proof of zeta(3), and many new irrationality proofs of many new constants, alas, none of…
In a famous paper of $1914$ Ramanujan gave a list of $17$ extraordinary formulas for the number $\pi$. In this paper we explain a general method to prove them, based on an original idea of James Wan and in some own ideas.
We prove that there is at least one irrationnal among the nine numbers zeta(5), zeta(7),..., zeta(21).
Numbers are often used to define more complicated numbers. For example, two integers are used to define a rational number and two reals are used to define a complex number. It might be expected that an irrational power of an irrational…
An integer program (IP) with a finite number of feasible solutions may have an unbounded linear programming relaxation if it contains irrational parameters, due to implicit constraints enforced by the irrational numbers. We show that those…
Let $k$ be a field, let $G$ be a reductive group, and let $V$ be a linear representation of $G$. Let $V//G = Spec(Sym(V^*))^G$ denote the geometric quotient and let $\pi: V \to V//G$ denote the quotient map. Arithmetic invariant theory…
An important component of Ap\'ery's proof that $\zeta (3)$ is irrational involves representing $\zeta (3)$ as the limit of the quotient of two rational solutions to a three-term recurrence. We present various approaches to such Ap\'ery…
Many questions in experimental mathematics are fundamentally inductive in nature. Here we demonstrate how Bayesian inference --the logic of partial beliefs-- can be used to quantify the evidence that finite data provide in favor of a…