Number Theory
Irrational Numbers
An irrational number is any real number that is not a rational number — that is, it is a number which cannot be expressed as a fraction \(m/n\), where \(m\) and \(n\) are integers, with \(n\) non–zero. The most well known irrational numbers are \(\pi
\) and\(\sqrt 2 \).
- Sum or difference of two irrational numbers may not be irrational.
- Product or division of two irrational numbers may not be irrational.
- Product of one rational and one irrational number may or may not be irrational. For example \(3 \times \sqrt 2 \)is irrational but \(0 \times \sqrt 3 \) is rational. Note that 0 is rational.
The constant \(\pi \) is irrational.
Example 4: If \(A{\rm{ }} = {\rm{ }}0.{a_1}{a_2}{a_1}{a_2} \ldots \ldots \ldots ..\infty \) and \(B{\rm{ }} = {\rm{ }}0.{b_1}{b_2}{b_3}{b_1}{b_2}{b_3} \ldots \ldots \ldots \ldots ..\infty \), find the minimum positive integer that should be multiplied to \((A + B)\) so that product is always an integer.
Solution:
\(A\) and \(B\) both are repeating decimals
\(A =\frac{{{a_1}{a_2}}}{{99}}\)
\(B = \frac{{{b_1}{b_2}{b_3}}}{{999}}\)
Now the minimum positive integer that should be multiplies to \((A + B)\) to make it an integer will be LCM of 99 and 999 = 10989.