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Comment on Math question: how do we get an irrational number pi from the ratio of circumference and the diameter of a circle?

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Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

It’s not that it can be measured forever, it’s just that it refuses to match up with any line on the ruler.

For a line of length pi: it’s somewhere between 3 or 4, so you get a ruler and figure out it’s 3.1ish, so you get a better ruler and you get 3.14ish. get the best ruler in existence and you get 3.14159265…ish

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Klear@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
…and when you go deep enough you suddenly lose the line in a jumble of vibrating particles or even wose quantum foam, realising the length of the line no longer makes sense as a concept and that there are limits to precision measurements in the physical world.

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