TITLE: Prove $\alpha \in\mathbb R$ is irrational, when $\cos(\alpha \pi) = \frac{1}{3}$
QUESTION [9 upvotes]: I am trying to prove:

If $\cos(\pi\alpha) = \frac{1}{3}$ then $\alpha \in \mathbb{R} \setminus \mathbb{Q}$

So far, I've tried making it into an exponential, since exponentials are easier to manipulate (at least for me), when compared to $\cos$ or $\sin$. So:
$$\cos(\pi\alpha)^2 + \sin(\pi\alpha)^2 = 1$$
$$\Big(\frac{1}{3}\Big)^2 + \sin(\pi\alpha)^2 = 1$$
$$\sin(\pi\alpha)^2 = \frac{8}{9}$$
$$\sin(\pi\alpha) = \frac{\sqrt{8}}{3}$$
$$\sin(\pi\alpha) = \frac{2\sqrt{2}}{3}$$
Then we can use Euler's formula:
$$e^{i\pi\alpha} = \cos(\pi\alpha) + i\sin(\pi\alpha) = \frac{1}{3} + i\frac{2\sqrt{2}}{3} = \frac{1+i2\sqrt{2}}{3}$$
Now take the log of both sides:
$$ \ln(e^{i\pi\alpha}) = \ln(\frac{1+i2\sqrt{2}}{3}) = \ln(1+i2\sqrt{2}) - \ln(3) = i\pi\alpha$$
$$\therefore \alpha = \frac{\ln(1+i2\sqrt{2}) - \ln(3)}{i\pi}$$
But, here I get stuck, and don't know how to show it is irrational, any ideas? (Even though it looks pretty darn irrational to me...) Should I be trying something else? I'm so lost...

REPLY [3 votes]: A different approach is to use Dirichlet's well-known discontinuous function
$$
f(x)=\lim_{k\to\infty}\left(\lim_{j\to\infty}(\cos(k!\pi x))^{2j}\right),
$$
which is $1$ if $x$ is rational and $0$ if $x$ is irrational.
Since $\cos(\pi\alpha)=\frac{1}{3}$ implies $\alpha=\pm\frac{1}{\pi}\arccos\frac{1}{3}+2n$, with $n$ an arbitrary integer, we get
$$
f(\alpha)=\lim_{k\to\infty}\left(\lim_{j\to\infty}[\cos(\pm k!\arccos(1/3))]^{2j}\right).
$$
Next, we use the fact that $\cos(nx)=T_{n}(\cos x)$, where $T_n$ denotes the $n$-th Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind. We see that
$$
\cos(\pm k!\arccos(1/3))]=T_{k!}(1/3)
$$
Using the recurrence relation $T_{n+1}(1/3)=\frac{2}{3}T_n(1/3)-T_{n-1}(1/3)$ (with $T_0(1/3)=1$ and $T_1(1/3)=1/3$), it is not difficult to prove that $|T_n(1/3)|<1$ for all $n\geq 1$. (I did it by solving the recurrence explicitly.) It is then trivial to show that both the outer and the inner limit equal $0$.