"Irrational" limit behavior
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg44390] "Irrational" limit behavior
- From: "David W. Cantrell" <DWCantrell at sigmaxi.org>
- Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 05:16:57 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Near the end of August, Maxim noted a limit which is clearly not 0, yet which Mathematica claims to be 0 . It had the form Limit[x - Sqrt[Pi], x -> q] where q was merely a very close rational approximation of Sqrt[Pi]. Here's a similar example: In[1]:= Rationalize[Sqrt[E], 10^(-74)] Out[1]= 34967586868203284666575423396341074438/21208913531730155539833556128356679037 In[2]:= Limit[x - Sqrt[E], x -> %] Out[2]= 0 I find this "irrational" behavior to be extremely disturbing. Please, someone, explain to me what's going on! David Cantrell