# Patterns in Infinity **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166 "2003-12-05T16:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/21 "2003-12-06T03:50:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trunk \* > \*\*I was being sloppy assuming that you might have the necessary conditions in the digits of PI since it appears so random. > > Still, I’d suspect it were true. \*\* Why? A number like the example lucwarm gave, 0.101001000100001000001 . . . . , can even be transcendental. Just let each successive number of zeroes be n!. Not only does it not contain every sequence, the only non-zero sequence it contains is “1” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/22 "2003-12-06T04:01:58Z")
An earlier thread with discussion of the normality of pi: [Are the digits of pi random, or not?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80226) ---
**Author:** ![Paco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Paco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paco)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/23 "2003-12-06T04:13:55Z")
It wasn’t a stupid question. As cliche as it sounds, there is no stupid question but the one you don’t ask. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/24 "2003-12-06T04:34:57Z")
**Paco** : I thought it went “There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/25 "2003-12-06T05:42:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Race Bannon \* > \*\*Achilles, I think your prof stuck his foot in his mouth - you asked a very good question, and he backed out. > > I think it’s a bad idea to try to talk about randomness of the digits of pi. For one thing, as ultrafilter pointed out, nobody has proven anything about the probability distribution of the digits of pi, which would be the only way I can see of linking probability to the explanation. And, saying that an irrational number has some kind of “random” character is not a good way to explain irrational numbers. \*\* In this context, randomness means something quite different: a number is random if its representation in base 10 cannot be generated by a finite-length computer program. It is impossible to explicitly state a random number. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/26 "2003-12-06T07:21:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\ ***Paco** : I thought it went “There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.” > > 😃 \*\* Actually, it goes, “There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/27 "2003-12-06T08:13:12Z")
Pi is not “random”, as its infinite series of numbers has a regular, predictable pattern. pi = 4 \* ((1/1) - (1/3) + (1/5) - (1/7) + (1/9) - (1/11) + (1/13) - …). ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/28 "2003-12-06T08:19:00Z")
**Achillis** , if you ever deal with other numbers that are based on an infinite series, those will generally be nonterminating, nonrepeating decimals as well. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/29 "2003-12-06T11:59:09Z")
Offtopic: **ultrafilter** : I think I just got your username… ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166/30 "2003-12-06T13:18:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Engineer Dude \* > \*\ ***Achillis** , if you ever deal with other numbers that are based on an infinite series, those will generally be nonterminating, nonrepeating decimals as well. \*\* You mean, like 9/10 + 9/100 + 9/1000 + 9/10000 + … 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patterns-in-infinity/217166.md?page=1)