For context, a number is transcendental if it's not the root of any non-zero polynomial with rational coefficients. Essentially, it means the number cannot be constructed using a finite combination of integers and standard algebraic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and integer roots). sqrt(2) is irrational but algebraic (it solves x^2 - 2 = 0); pi is transcendental.
The reason we haven't been able to prove this for constants like Euler-Mascheroni (gamma) is that we currently lack the tools to even prove they are irrational. With numbers like e or pi, we found infinite series or continued fraction representations that allowed us to prove they cannot be expressed as a ratio of two integers.
With gamma, we have no such "hook." It appears in many places (harmonics, gamma function derivatives), but we haven't found a relationship that forces a contradiction if we assume it is algebraic. For all we know right now, gamma could technically be a rational fraction with a denominator larger than the number of atoms in the universe, though most mathematicians would bet the house against it.
(I'm not sure what "the elements of the base need to be enumerable" means—usually, as above, one speaks of a single base; while mixed-radix systems exist, the usual definition still has only one base per position, and only countably many positions. But the proof of countability of transcendental numbers is easy, since each is a root of a polynomial over $\mathbb Q$, there are only countably many such polynomials, and every polynomial has only finitely many roots.)
The human-invented ones seem to be just a grasp of dozens man can come up with.
i to the power of i is one I never heard of but is fascinating though!
1: Almost all numbers are transcendental.
2: If you could pick a real number at random, the probability of it being transcendental is 1.
Most of our lives we deal with non-transcendental numbers, even though those are infinitely rare.
I deleted my earlier comment on that fact, mistaking the downvote for my being incorrectly informed.
The transcendental number whose value matters (being the second most important transcendental number after 2*pi) is ln 2 = 0.693 ... (and the value of its inverse log2(e), in order to avoid divisions).
senfiaj•2h ago
So why bring some numbers here as transcendental if not proven?
auggierose•2h ago
loloquwowndueo•1h ago
No, my dudes. Just no. If it’s not proven transcendental, it’s not to be considered such.
chvid•58m ago
senfiaj•11m ago