Wed, 18 Jul 2007 01:27:19 -0700 from Harlan Grove
:
"Stan Brown" wrote...
...
Mathematicians call pi an irrational number because there is no
fraction (ratio of whole numbers) that can represent it. 1/3 is an
example of a rational number.
...

Mathematicians usually call pi a transcendental number to distinguish it
from algrbraic numbers like SQRT(2) and other countable sets of irrational
numbers.

You're correct, pi is a member of the transcendentals, a subset of
the irrationals.

I had thought about mentioning that in my earlier article, but I was
afraid I was already getting too mathematical. :-)

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/