Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The number e is a mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828 that is the base of the natural logarithm and exponential function.It is sometimes called Euler's number, after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, though this can invite confusion with Euler numbers, or with Euler's constant, a different constant typically denoted .
The number e (e = 2.718...), also known as Euler's number, which occurs widely in mathematical analysis The number i , the imaginary unit such that i 2 = − 1 {\displaystyle i^{2}=-1} The equation is often given in the form of an expression set equal to zero, which is common practice in several areas of mathematics.
The notation γ appears nowhere in the writings of either Euler or Mascheroni, and was chosen at a later time, perhaps because of the constant's connection to the gamma function. [3] For example, the German mathematician Carl Anton Bretschneider used the notation γ in 1835, [ 4 ] and Augustus De Morgan used it in a textbook published in parts ...
For example, ln 7.5 is 2.0149..., because e 2.0149... = 7.5. The natural logarithm of e itself, ln e, is 1, because e 1 = e, while the natural logarithm of 1 is 0, since e 0 = 1. The natural logarithm can be defined for any positive real number a as the area under the curve y = 1/x from 1 to a [4] (with the area being negative when 0 < a < 1 ...
π , the constant representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.141592653589793238462643. [8] e, approximately equal to 2.718281828459045235360287. [9] i, the imaginary unit such that i 2 = −1. [10]
In 1840, Liouville published a proof of the fact that e 2 is irrational [10] followed by a proof that e 2 is not a root of a second-degree polynomial with rational coefficients. [11] This last fact implies that e 4 is irrational. His proofs are similar to Fourier's proof of the irrationality of e.
A mathematical constant is a key number whose value is fixed by an unambiguous definition, often referred to by a symbol (e.g., an alphabet letter), or by mathematicians' names to facilitate using it across multiple mathematical problems. [1]
The constant e also has applications to probability theory, where it arises in a way not obviously related to exponential growth. As an example, suppose that a slot machine with a one in n probability of winning is played n times, then for large n (e.g., one million), the probability that nothing will be won will tend to 1/e as n tends to infinity.