The Number e Traditional Geocache
Ike 13: This one is no longer in place. I may reuse this area in the near future.
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Size:  (small)
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This is the eighteenth cache in my finite mathematical series. I am a math teacher by day. I thought a cache series dedicated to math would be a good way to educate the public.
e is well known as a vowel and the most common letter in the English language. But did you know that e is also a constant (numerical value)?
The constant was first referred to by John Napier in 1618. He never used the constant itself, but a list of natural logarithms calculated from the constant. The 'discovery' of the constant is credited to Bernoulli when working on a compound interest problem. A few years later Leibniz used b to represent the constant (maybe as a homage to Bernoulli). Yet it wasn't until Leonard Euler (pronounced Oiler) published Mechanica in 1736 that it became widely used (and referred to as e).
e = 2.7182818284590452353602874713526624977572470936999595749669...
Just like pi, e is an irrational number. An irrational number cannot be represented by a ratio, and as a decimal it is non-terminating and non-repeating. e is most commonly used in natural logarithms and compound interest problems. e is also used heavily in calculus and higher level mathematics. On July 5th the 1 trillionth digit of e was discovered.
The cache is located off the Quail Valley Trail System. There is a large amount of wildlife in the area, so watch your step.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Trg gb gur ebbg bs gur ceboyrz