4 ms·
"You can't write it down in terms of basic arithmetic"
by soledades 5y ago
"You can't write it down in terms of basic arithmetic"
- ColinWright 5y agoI don't think that captures the full detail of exactly what a transcendental is. When you say "basic arithmetic" do you include square roots? Or cube roots? And if you do (which you must) then you are already outside of "laymen's terms".
- lenzm 5y ago> I don't think that captures the full detail of exactly what a transcendental is I completely agree but I think it captures the spirit of what a transcendental is succinctly.
- ColinWright 5y agoThat's true, but it's not answering the original question as asked. The original question says: > So in layman's terms, what exactly does it mean to be transcendental? How would a transcendental number be different from an ordinary number, say 5. Saying that you "can't write it down in terms of basic arithmetic" doesn't make clear what you mean by that, and I feel it would be unsatisfying for the original poster. To say you CWIDITOBA is not saying exactly what it means, and I can imagine the original poster coming back and asking ... "But what does that mean? What is basic arithmetic?" The answer submitted here explains exactly that.
- addicted 5y agoThe answer covers the original question exactly. The original question conveniently gives an example of an "ordinary number" as 5. Which indicates what they mean by ordinary numbers is indeed integers, and the answer completely explains how transcedental numbers differ from "ordinary numbers".
- gizmo686 5y agoAnd you still haven't captured all the algabraic numbers. Once a polynomial reaches degree 5, then even having an operation for taking the nth root of a number does not nessasarily allow you to find a root of the polynomial.