Can the fraction $\frac{\pi b}{a - e b}$ where $e$ is the usual Euler constant, and $a$,$b$ are integers, be equal to an non-zero integer ?
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7Almost surely not, but no one knows. This is essentially the same question: Are $\pi$ and $e$ algebraically independent? – Ethan Bolker May 07 '23 at 00:14
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8Equivalent question: are $1,\pi,e$ linearly independent over $\mathbb Q$? This is much weaker than whether $\pi,e$ are algebraically independent. – GEdgar May 07 '23 at 00:20
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Can we go 'anywhere', for example by suggesting the fraction $\frac{\pi b}{a - e b} = 2$? – Abel May 07 '23 at 00:36
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You might be interested to know that e.g. $\frac{\log 2}{1-\log 5}=1$, which is indeed the fraction of two irrational numbers. – Trebor May 07 '23 at 01:44
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@Trebor Also: $\frac {10\pi}{5\pi}, \frac {6e}{2e}, \dots$ – lone student May 07 '23 at 01:49
1 Answers
I want to show that the following elementary conclusion :
Let $\thinspace (a,b)\in\mathbb Z^{2}\setminus \{0\}\thinspace $, then $\thinspace\frac{\pi b}{a-eb}\thinspace$ might be equal to some integer, only if when $\thinspace\frac {e}{\pi}\thinspace$ is irrational .
Let $\thinspace m\in\mathbb Z\thinspace $ and $\thinspace\frac ab =r\in\mathbb Q\thinspace$ with $\thinspace ab≠0\thinspace $, then we have :
$$ \begin{align}\frac{\pi b}{a-e b}&=\frac{\pi}{r-e }=m \end{align} $$
This leads to :
$$ \begin{align}&r=e+\frac {\pi}{m}\\ \implies &\frac {r}{\pi}=\frac {e}{\pi}+\frac 1m \end{align} $$
Since $\thinspace \frac{r}{\pi}\thinspace$ is irrational and $\thinspace\frac 1m\thinspace$ is rational, this implies that $\thinspace\frac {e}{\pi}\thinspace$ is irrational, but this is an open problem , in mathematics .
Then, I want to show that another elementary conclusion :
If there exists non-zero integer pair $\thinspace(a,b)\thinspace$ such that, $\thinspace m=\frac{\pi b}{a-eb}\thinspace$ is an integer, then there exists at most one integer $\thinspace m\thinspace .$
Indeed, we have :
$$ \begin{align}&\begin{cases}\frac {r_1}{\pi}=\frac {e}{\pi}+\frac {1}{m_1} \\ \frac {r_2}{\pi}=\frac {e}{\pi}+\frac {1}{m_2}\end{cases}\\\\ \implies &\frac {r_1-r_2}{\pi}=\frac {m_2-m_1}{m_1m_2}\end{align} $$
Finally, we observe that if $\thinspace r_1≠r_2\thinspace $, then $\thinspace \frac {m_2-m_1}{m_1m_2}\not\in\mathbb Q\thinspace .$
A contradiction .

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Are you saying if there is an integer equal to that fraction, then $\frac{e}{\pi}$ is indeed irrational ? – Abel May 07 '23 at 16:56
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