Solved cryptogram
Almost every number is transcendental, yet mathematicians can name only a short list of them.
Mathematics Facts, sourced to MacTutor History of Mathematics.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 77 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.
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What it means
A transcendental number is one that solves no polynomial equation with whole number coefficients. Cantor showed the algebraic numbers can be listed and the reals cannot, so almost all numbers are transcendental in the strongest sense: pick one at random and the chance of anything else is zero. Even so, proving that a particular number is one of them is hard, and pi held out until 1882.
The claim comes from MacTutor History of Mathematics.
- SourceMacTutor History of Mathematics
- CollectionMathematics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length77 letters, 18 of them different
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