A Formal Proof of a Continued Fraction Conjecture for $π$ Originating from the Ramanujan Machine
This provides a formal proof for algorithmically discovered mathematical identities, addressing a foundational problem in number theory and symbolic computation, though it is incremental as it builds on classical hypergeometric theory.
The paper tackled the problem of proving a class of non-canonical polynomial continued fractions for π/4, originally conjectured by the Ramanujan Machine, by establishing an explicit correspondence with Gaussian hypergeometric functions and showing the integer coefficients are symbolically minimal, with stability analysis confirming absolute convergence within the Worpitzky disk.
We provide a formal analytic proof for a class of non-canonical polynomial continued fractions representing π/4, originally conjectured by the Ramanujan Machine using algorithmic induction [4]. By establishing an explicit correspondence with the ratio of contiguous Gaussian hypergeometric functions 2F1(a, b; c; z), we show that these identities can be derived via a discrete sequence of equivalence transformations. We further prove that the conjectured integer coefficients constitute a symbolically minimal realization of the underlying analytic kernel. Stability analysis confirms that the resulting limit-periodic structures reside strictly within the Worpitzky convergence disk, ensuring absolute convergence. This work demonstrates that such algorithmically discovered identities are not isolated numerical artifacts, but are deeply rooted in the classical theory of hypergeometric transformations.