Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
For example, the constant π may be defined as the ratio of the length of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The following list includes a decimal expansion and set containing each number, ordered by year of discovery. The column headings may be clicked to sort the table alphabetically, by decimal value, or by set.
Other constants are notable more for historical reasons than for their mathematical properties. The more popular constants have been studied throughout the ages and computed to many decimal places. All named mathematical constants are definable numbers, and usually are also computable numbers (Chaitin's constant being a significant exception).
The constants listed here are known values of physical constants expressed in SI units; that is, physical quantities that are generally believed to be universal in nature and thus are independent of the unit system in which they are measured. Many of these are redundant, in the sense that they obey a known relationship with other physical ...
The definition of the Champernowne constant immediately gives rise to an infinite series representation involving a double sum, = = = (+), where () = = is the number of digits between the decimal point and the first contribution from an n-digit base-10 number; these expressions generalize to an arbitrary base b by replacing 10 and 9 with b and b − 1 respectively.
The constant first appeared in a 1734 paper by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, titled De Progressionibus harmonicis observationes (Eneström Index 43), where he described it as "worthy of serious consideration". [2] [3] Euler initially calculated the constant's value to 6 decimal places. In 1781, he calculated it to 16 decimal places.
A constant may be used to define a constant function that ignores its arguments and always gives the same value. [6] A constant function of a single variable, such as f ( x ) = 5 {\displaystyle f(x)=5} , has a graph of a horizontal line parallel to the x -axis. [ 7 ]
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
As a dimensionless constant which does not seem to be directly related to any mathematical constant, the fine-structure constant has long fascinated physicists. Arthur Eddington argued that the value could be "obtained by pure deduction" and he related it to the Eddington number , his estimate of the number of protons in the universe. [ 68 ]