Carl Sagan is a scientist, & so is his character the woman astronomer. Pi is both an irrational & transcendental number & so its computation cd not end. Wasn't Sagan misleading readers by suggesting altho indirectly that the computation cd end? Or has there been found a proof or indication that it's possible that computation of pi cd end?
2007-07-21 14:14:21 · 5 answers · asked by john-evan 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Sagan was suggesting that transmitting the digits of pi in some base (we can't assume the aliens use base 10, of course) would be a way of suggesting the message was being sent by intelligent beings. Random transmissions would imply nothing, but a transmission that gives, say, the first ten or twenty digits of pi would mean something to the intelligent beings.
As for how many digits to transmit, that isn't too important. Just give enough to make it clear the digits do not match the first n digits of pi by coincidence.
2007-07-21 16:07:50 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That wasn't what Sagan suggested. He suggested that there could be a message in the digits of pi from a supreme being. He didn't suggest that pi terminates.
2007-07-21 21:19:00 · answer #2 · answered by thomasoa 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you're probably mis-reading Sagan. Pi is irrational, so no decimal expansion can possibly terminate.
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2007-07-21 21:22:27 · answer #3 · answered by tsr21 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An inference to this possibility was voiced by Buzz Lightyear in the movie "Toy Story" he said "to infinity and beyond" this would involve theoretical physics the capability to leap beyond logic as only we illogical humans could do. This is what I think the story was attempting to illustrate.
2007-07-28 01:03:38 · answer #4 · answered by Emissary 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"it's possible that computation of pi compact disc end?"
What the hell are you talking about?
2007-07-21 21:19:38 · answer #5 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋