What is e? A Ratio?

Date: 7/25/96 at 21:2:51
From: Anonymous
Subject: What is e? A ratio?

I am a high school math teacher.  Yesterday at a conference an old 
buddy of mine asked me where e came from.  I said huh?  He said well, 
pi is of course the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its 
diameter.  There must be some similar explanation for e. 

Is there?

Date: 7/26/96 at 0:30:4
From: Doctor Paul
Subject: Re: What is e? A ratio?

'e' isn't a ratio. Rather, it's a limit.

                                                     n
                          e = Limit         (1 + 1/n)
                              n -> infinity


'e' can also be expressed as a sum:

                                   infinity
                                    -----
                                     \        1
                               e =    )      ---
                                     /        i!
                                    -----
                                    i = 0



-Doctor Paul,  The Math Forum
 Check out our web site!  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/