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> measuring devices that can spit out irrational numbers. ... No other scientist has ever seen such a thing. There are devices that indirectly measure somethin
by LukeShu 11y ago
> measuring devices that can spit out irrational numbers. ... No other scientist has ever seen such a thing.
There are devices that indirectly measure something, and relate it to the desired measurement involving pi.
Stupid example: Take a measuring wheel that counts encoder clicks. Say the encoder has 300 clicks/revolution. The device is quite likely calibrated to output clicks(2pi*radius/300).
- pash 11y agoThis sort of thing exists and is apparently what other commenters also have in mind, but I would argue that in your example the measuring device's output is a natural number n in the range [0, 300] and that its interpretation as a fraction of a circle's circumference is just that. Clearly the existence of describable irrational numbers implies that we can describe a measurement using an irrational number. That does not make a finite measurement essentially irrational in any meaningful sense.