ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Liouville number

Okay kiddo, let's talk about a special type of number called a Liouville number. These numbers are really interesting because they have some really special properties.

A Liouville number is a number that can be expressed as an infinite string of digits, like 0.1101100010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000... but it's a bit more complicated than that.

The digits in this string are chosen in a special way. They can only be 0 or 1, but they have to be chosen in a very specific way so that they get smaller and smaller as you look at the later digits. This means that the number gets more and more complicated, but it still has an infinite number of digits.

Why is this important? Well, Liouville numbers are really special because they can't be expressed as a fraction (that's when you have two numbers on top and bottom of a line, like 1/2). Instead, they are what we call "transcendental" numbers, which means they are really weird and don't fit into any neat patterns.

What's really cool is that there are actually an infinite number of Liouville numbers out there, even though they are super rare compared to other types of numbers. Mathematicians are really interested in these numbers because they help us understand more about the foundations of mathematics and the relationships between different types of numbers.

So there you have it kiddo, Liouville numbers are special numbers with an infinite number of digits that are chosen in a very specific way, and they can't be expressed as fractions. They are really interesting to mathematicians and help us understand more about numbers and math!
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