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Prove that $\pi$ is a transcendental number

Writer Olivia Zamora
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Does anyone has a link to a site that confirms that $\pi$ is a transcendental number?

Or, can anyone show how to prove that $\pi$ is a transcendental number?

Thank you in anticipation!

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2 Answers

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As suggested by Yuval's comment, the most straightforward way of showing that $\pi$ is transcendental proceeds through the Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem that $e^x$ is transcendental if $x$ is (nonzero and) algebraic; since $e^{i\pi}=-1$ is algebraic, then $i\pi$ must be transcendental, and therefore $\pi$ must be (since $i$ isn't rational, but it is algebraic!). You can find a rough proof of the theorem at its Wikipedia page.

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Try the short paper The transcendence of $\pi$ by Niven and his book Irrational Numbers.

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