Does anyone have a comment on Euler's proof that God exists.

[tonywiltshire]

The mathematician Leonhard Euler believed the best empirical evidence for the existence of God is the following equation (which is easily derivable for anyone who remembers Taylor expansions):
e^(pi*i) + 1 = 0
e = The base of the natural logarithm
pi = The ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter
i = The imaginary number, sqrt(-1)
1 = The multiplicative identity (x*1 = x)
0 = The additive identity (x+0 = x)

[WaldoMcFroog]

I am unable to make head nor tale of the maths, but as far as I know, the idea that Euler advanced such a proof is just a story.

The link below also claims an entirely different equation, which I strongly suspect is no more or less sensible than the one in the original post. If it is a genuine equation, I would be interested to hear what it is supposed to demonstrate.

https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/euler.html

[WaldoMcFroog]

Another telling of the anecdote: https://docs.google.c...~franz/M300/bell3.pdf

[woofgang]

If god only likes people who are good at maths, then there are my chances shot!

[factor-fiction]

It's an amazing mathematical formulae though which brings together so many of the key values used in maths :
e = The base of the natural logarithm
pi = The ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter
i = The imaginary number, sqrt(-1)

In my maths studies I missed the perceived religious significance of it.

[Prudie]

And as i doesn't really exist that nullifies the theorem

[tonywiltshire]

I fail to see how an algebraic formula (which I do not understand) can prove the existence of God.

[jomifl]

In the hands of a statistician it could prove anything :-)

[ll_billym]

Well the Bible says that God exists but then it also alludes to pi being equal to 3 (I Kings 7, 23), so if the equation above is correct then the Bible is wrong and God does not exist.

[jomifl]

Perhaps it works like this, if you can have a real equation where an imaginary number is an active component then why not have a real universe with an imaginary god as an active component, :-)

[Prudie]

beautifully put jomifl, still makes what it equates to unreal.

[jomifl]

You anticipated me Prudie :-)

[beso]

Some numbers are intrinsically more important than others. Prime numbers are a well known example.

There are even more special numbers such as the Heegner Numbers:
1, 2, 3, 7, 11, 19, 43, 67, 163

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heegner_number

Expressions based on these numbers lead to outcomes that are not intuitively expected even though most of them have been fully explained with a mathematical justification.

Almost integer expressions are quite interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_integer

My favourite almost integer is e^(pi* sqrt(163)).

[beso]

Just to save you reading the page here is the important part:

"Briefly, is an integer for d a Heegner number, and via the q-expansion.
If is a quadratic irrational, then the j-invariant is an algebraic integer of degree , the class number of and the minimal (monic integral) polynomial it satisfies is called the Hilbert class polynomial. Thus if the imaginary quadratic extension has class number 1 (so d is a Heegner number), the j-invariant is an integer.
The q-expansion of j, with its Fourier series expansion written as a Laurent series."

See. Simple!

[beso]

Unsurprisingly the paste left out the actual expressions but it makes about as much sense with or without to most people.

The original with the equations at Wikipedia is beautiful. See it as something be be in awe of but don't expect to understand it.

[beso]

Such a shame that Deep Thought didn't come up with 43 as the answer to life the universe and everything.

[vascop]

This identity is just another way of saying that if you rotate the number 1 on the x-axis through 180 degrees anticlockwise about the origin you get the number -1 on the x-axis. Trivial almost - nothing profound.

[vascop]

"Well the Bible says that God exists but then it also alludes to pi being equal to 3 (I Kings 7, 23), so if the equation above is correct then the Bible is wrong and God does not exist." billy

What you have written - if your serious - is not logical.
I am almost sure God does not exist, but your statement does not prove it.

[vascop]

Sorry that should be "if you're serious"

[Khandro]

It is a well known fact that Leonhard Euler fancied himself as something of a comedian, though he never dared play second house on a Friday night at Glasgow Empire.