Primes, Pi, and Irrationality Measure

Abstract: A folklore proof of Euclid's theorem on the infinitude of primes uses the Euler product and the irrationality of

z e t a (2) = p i^{2} / 6

. A quantified form of Euclid's Theorem is Bertrand's postulate

p_{n + 1} < 2 p_{n}

. By quantifying the folklore proof using an irrationality measure for

6 / p i^{2}

, we give a proof (communicated to Paulo Ribenboim in 2005) of a much weaker upper bound on

p_{n + 1}

.

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