3 ms·
The description omits the part why this seemingly convoluted game is needed in the first place. When we, for example, learn about fractional numbers, we immedi
by avmich 5y ago
The description omits the part why this seemingly convoluted game is needed in the first place.
When we, for example, learn about fractional numbers, we immediately visualize them as something between integers. We talk about the need to have something more than 2 but less than 3.
However here we look at a seemingly arbitrary game which somehow - after a convoluted process (intentional emphasis everywhere) divides numbers into having a property and not having it, without explanation why the property is there or not, or why it's important, and there is no "feeling" of the property.
I don't think this explanation is complete, even though it has good parts.
- ColinWright 5y ago> "The description omits the part why this seemingly convoluted game is needed in the first place." The game isn't needed regardless. We don't need this classification. The original poster was asking how to explain what a transcendental is, and the answer does exactly that. As a different question, asking why we care about transcendentals is reasonable, but for you to complain that this post is not answering a question that wasn't asked seems a little unfair. But even so, the submitted question says this: "Why is this interesting? Each algebraic number is related arithmetically to the integers, and the winning moves in the game show you how so. The path to zero might be long and complicated, but each step is simple and there is a path. But transcendental numbers are fundamentally different: they are not arithmetically related to the integers via simple steps." So it looks like the post really does answer the question you raise, and I don't know why you're saying the answer is incomplete.