How about ANY FINITE SEQUENCE AT ALL?

  • juliebean ( juliebean@lemm.ee ) 
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    2 years ago

    no. it merely being infinitely non-repeating is insufficient to say that it contains any particular finite string.

    for instance, write out pi in base 2, and reinterpret as base 10.

    11.0010010000111111011010101000100010000101...
    

    it is infinitely non-repeating, but nowhere will you find a 2.

    i’ve often heard it said that pi, in particular, does contain any finite sequence of digits, but i haven’t seen a proof of that myself, and if it did exist, it would have to depend on more than its irrationality.

          • In terms of formal logic, this…

            Since Pi is infinite and non-repeating, would that mean any finite sequence of non-repeating digits from 0-9 should appear somewhere in Pi in base 10?

            …and this…

            Does any possible string of infinite non-repeating digits contain every possible finite sequence of non repeating digits?

            are equivalent statements.

            The phrase “since X, would that mean Y” is the same as asking “is X a sufficient condition for Y”. Providing ANY example of X WITHOUT Y is a counter-example which proves X is NOT a sufficient condition.

            The 1.010010001… example is literally one that is taught in classes to disprove OPs exact hypothesis. This isn’t a discussion where we’re both offering different perspectives and working towards a truth we don’t both see, thus is a discussion where you’re factually wrong and I’m trying to help you learn why lol.

        • Umbrias ( Umbrias@beehaw.org ) 
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          2 years ago

          it’s not a good example because you’ve only changed the symbolic representation and not the numerical value. the op’s question is identical when you convert to binary. thir is not a counterexample and does not prove anything.

          • orcrist ( orcrist@lemm.ee ) 
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            2 years ago

            Please read it all again. They didn’t rely on the conversion. It’s just a convenient way to create a counterexample.

            Anyway, here’s a simple equivalent. Let’s consider a number like pi except that wherever pi has a 9, this new number has a 1. This new number is infinite and doesn’t repeat. So it also answers the original question.

              • spireghost ( spireghost@lemmy.zip ) 
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                2 years ago

                The question is

                Since pi is infinite and non-repeating, would it mean…

                Then the answer is mathematically, no. If X is infinite and non-repeating it doesn’t.

                If a number is normal, infinite, and non-repeating, then yes.

                To answer the real question “Does any finite sequence of non-repeating numbers appear somewhere in Pi?”

                The answer depends on if Pi is normal or not, but not necessarily

    • sunbather ( sunbather@beehaw.org ) 
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      2 years ago

      this is correct but i think op is asking the wrong question.

      at least from a mathematical perspective, the claim that pi contains any finite string is only a half-baked version of the conjecture with that implication. the property tied to this is the normality of pi which is actually about whether the digits present in pi are uniformly distributed or not.

      from this angle, the given example only shows that a base 2 string contains no digits greater than 1 but the question of whether the 1s and 0s present are uniformly distributed remains unanswered. if they are uniformly distributed (which is unknown) the implication does follow that every possible finite string containing only 1s and 0s is contained within, even if interpreted as a base 10 string while still base 2. base 3 pi would similarly contain every possible finite string containing only the digits 0-2, even when interpreted in base 10 etc. if it is true in any one base it is true in all bases for their corresponding digits