Philosophy Now Forum

March 14, 2025
Pi (π): The Infinite Constant Connecting History, Science, and Technology
Origins and Historical Journey
/Ravi Venkatachalam Chitrapu/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pi-%CF%8 ... PZHA%3D%3D
Why is the number π infinite (π ----> ∞)?

π isn’t infinite. It’s less than 4

What is (π ----> ∞) supposed to mean?

mickthinks wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 7:20 am π isn’t infinite. It’s less than 4

What is (π ----> ∞) supposed to mean?

He must just be talking about the decimal expansion

These are the proofs for pi being irrational

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_t ... irrational

It might be hard to draw a straightforward "why" from them, but that's probably the closest you're going to get.

Something along the lines of, "it has to be irrational because if it was rational, it would create a contradiction in some other mathematical / trigonometric context".

Or an alternative approach, "it has to be irrational because that's the inevitable result of seeing pi as the consequence of some never-ending summation sequence which can be shown to match the meaning of pi".

Those are my best hints.

mickthinks wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 7:20 am π isn’t infinite. It’s less than 4

What is (π ----> ∞) supposed to mean?

π will never reach 4

Why can't π = 3.14159....----> ∞ be a perfect circle?
=======

socrattus wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 10:20 am Why can't π = 3.14159....----> ∞ be a perfect circle?
=======

A number isn't a circle. A number is a number, a circle is a different sort of thing.

socrattus wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 10:18 am

mickthinks wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 7:20 am π isn’t infinite. It’s less than 4

What is (π ----> ∞) supposed to mean?

π will never reach 4

It’s a mistake to think and speak of π as if it were a process or on a journey.

btw what is (π ----> ∞) supposed to mean?

I have noticed before this tendency to confuse "infinite" with "non-finite". Pi is of course a non-finite number; meaning that, its value cannot be stated with final precision, because it has infinitely many decimal places. And therein lies the clue, for anybody with a high-school IQ. Pi is only infinite, in the sense that it has infinitely many decimal places; but the number itself is non-finite. If there is anybody who still feels confusion, I recommend a Mathematics 100 course.

alan1000 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 12, 2025 3:38 pm I have noticed before this tendency to confuse "infinite" with "non-finite". Pi is of course a non-finite number; meaning that, its value cannot be stated with final precision, because it has infinitely many decimal places. And therein lies the clue, for anybody with a high-school IQ. Pi is only infinite, in the sense that it has infinitely many decimal places; but the number itself is non-finite. If there is anybody who still feels confusion, I recommend a Mathematics 100 course.

The number "Pi" belongs to a circle or a sphere.
In many physical formulas, π appears as a finite shape of
circle/membrane (πr^2) or as a sphere/ball (4πr²).
This means that in the real Quantum World, the number π belongs
to a quantum particle of the geometric shape of a membrane or a ball.
According to Einstein's STR, quantum particles cannot be solid/rigid particles.
This means that their shape must be elastic - vibrating.
These vibrations are infinite (π ----> ∞)
==========

socrattus wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 5:40 am March 14, 2025
Pi (π): The Infinite Constant Connecting History, Science, and Technology
Origins and Historical Journey
/Ravi Venkatachalam Chitrapu/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pi-%CF%8 ... PZHA%3D%3D
Why is the number π infinite (π ----> ∞)?

Because it is not a number, it is a ratio. Number is a specific method of parsing information, however, three other systems of encoding, common grammar, algebra, and geometry, it is not infinite, or undefined. Infinite in this context simply means undefinable in the arithmetic convention of naming.