Ferdinand Von Lindemann - Transcendence Proof

Transcendence Proof

In 1882, he published the result for which he is best known, the transcendence of π. His methods were similar to those used nine years earlier by Charles Hermite to show that e, the base of natural logarithms, is transcendental. Before the publication of Lindemann's proof, it was known that if π were transcendental, then the ancient and celebrated problem of squaring the circle by compass and straightedge would be solved in the negative.

Read more about this topic:  Ferdinand Von Lindemann

Famous quotes containing the word proof:

    Ah! I have penetrated to those meadows on the morning of many a first spring day, jumping from hummock to hummock, from willow root to willow root, when the wild river valley and the woods were bathed in so pure and bright a light as would have waked the dead, if they had been slumbering in their graves, as some suppose. There needs no stronger proof of immortality. All things must live in such a light. O Death, where was thy sting? O Grave, where was thy victory, then?
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)