Rational or Not

Algebra Level 3

1 π arccos 1 3 \frac 1{\pi} \arccos {\frac 1{\sqrt 3}} Is it irrational or rational?


Bonus: What about 1 π arccos 1 n \frac 1{\pi} \arccos {\frac 1{\sqrt n}} if n n is an integer greater than or equal to 3. 3.

Irrational Rational

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Abraham Zhang
Mar 13, 2019

Let a , b N a,b\in\mathbb N , d , m Z d,m\in\mathbb Z , n n not be a power of 2 2 nor a square, cos ( θ ) = 1 n \cos(\theta)=\frac1{\sqrt n} , T b ( x ) T_b(x) be Chebyshev polynomials, and say θ π = a b \frac{\theta}{\pi}=\frac ab , then
± 1 = cos ( b θ ) = T b ( c o s ( θ ) ) = T b ( 1 n ) = 2 b 1 ( 1 n ) b + d ( 1 n ) b 1 + m ( 1 n ) b 2 ± ( n ) b = 2 b 1 + d n + m n \begin{aligned} \pm1&=\cos(b\theta)\\ &=T_b(cos(\theta))\\ &=T_b\left(\frac1{\sqrt n}\right)\\ &=2^{b-1}\left(\frac1{\sqrt n}\right)^b+d\left(\frac1{\sqrt n}\right)^{b-1}+m\left(\frac1{\sqrt n}\right)^{b-2}\\ \pm(\sqrt n)^b&=2^{b-1}+d\sqrt n+mn\\ \end{aligned}
If b b is even, then 2 b 1 = n ( ± n b 2 2 m ) 2^{b-1}=n(\pm n^{\frac{b-2}2}-m) , which is a contradiction since n n has a prime factor that isn't 2 2 .
If b b is odd, then 2 b 1 = m n 2^{b-1}=-mn , which is a contradiction.
For the case where n n is a square but not a power of 2 2 , we have 2 b 1 = n ( ± ( n ) b 1 d m n ) 2^{b-1}=\sqrt n(\pm(\sqrt n)^{b-1}-d-m\sqrt n) which is a contradiction since n \sqrt n has a prime factor that isn't 2 2 .
Therefore, 1 π arccos ( 1 n ) \frac1{\pi}\arccos\left(\frac1{\sqrt n}\right) is irrational when n n is not a power of 2 2 .

What, if n is a power of 2? For example, n=8?

A Former Brilliant Member - 1 year, 11 months ago

1 pending report

Vote up reports you agree with

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...