Re: pi

Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, D Tse wrote:
>
> > All numbers should be in [the decimal expansion of pi] somewhere if one
> > looks hard enough...
> >
> > Imperative
>
> I said this to a number of mathematicians, and they beat me severely.
> Evidently this is a common misconception.  First of all, the digits of pi
> are not "random."  They showed me the proof, and although I cannot
> reproduce it, I was convinced.
    Of course they're not random; pi is a constant.  The hypothesis that
every finite string of digits appears as often as any other string of
digits of the same length in the expansion of pi (for an appropriate
definition of "as often") can be stated as "pi is normal in base ten".
Whether this is true is an open problem.

 ===========================================================================

                 Dennis Paul Himes    <>    himes@cshore.com
                   http://home.cshore.com/himes/dennis.htm
        Gladilatian page: http://home.cshore.com/himes/glad/lang.htm

Disclaimer: "True, I talk of dreams; which are the children of an idle
brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy; which is as thin of substance as
the air."                      - Romeo & Juliet, Act I Scene iv Verse 96-99