Almost Integers and Ramanujan's Constant
Ramanujan's constant is the transcendental number, which is an almost integer, in that it is very close to an integer:
- 262,537,412,640,768,743.999 999 999 999 25…
This number was discovered in 1859 by the mathematician Charles Hermite. In a 1975 April Fool article in Scientific American magazine, "Mathematical Games" columnist Martin Gardner made the (hoax) claim that the number was in fact an integer, and that the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan had predicted it—hence its name.
This coincidence is explained by complex multiplication and the q-expansion of the j-invariant.
Read more about this topic: Heegner Number
Famous quotes containing the word constant:
“For me, it is as though at every moment the actual world had completely lost its actuality. As though there was nothing there; as though there were no foundations for anything or as though it escaped us. Only one thing, however, is vividly present: the constant tearing of the veil of appearances; the constant destruction of everything in construction. Nothing holds together, everything falls apart.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)