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> The term you're looking for is 'irrational.' I think by infinite he means non-terminating. Conversely, an irrational number always has a non-terminating non

• steveklabnik 16y ago
  You're technically correct, the best kind. I'd argue, however, that 'irrational' is closer to what he meant, than the exactness of what he said. Any time you move between a layman's understanding and a detailed technical one, the abstraction can leak. I think 'irrational' matches up with intuition better, even if it's described as 'non-terminating.' People don't talk about 2/3 in the same way they talk about π.
  • est 16y ago
    > I think 'irrational' matches up with intuition better, even if it's described as 'non-terminating.' well, counter example, 1.22333444455555..... is an irrational number, but it's somehow easy to understand rationally. LOL Also it's worthy point out decimals are heavily related to positional notation. Another fun example is we can use base-e number system for maximum calculation efficiency. Or better, base-tau. So 6.28 in base10 equals 1 in base-tau numeral system. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-integer_representation#Base_.CF.80 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-integer_representation#Base... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorial_number_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorial_number_system
    • tspiteri 16y ago
      Rational numbers have more to do with ratios than reason.