Maximum Period of Decimal Expansion

decimal-expansionirrational-numbers

My question is similar to (but different from) the one here.

I came across this sentence on Wikipedia:
"The decimal expansion of a rational number always either terminates after a finite number of digits or begins to repeat the same finite sequence
of digits over and over."

Is it possible for an unbounded sequence of digits to repeat in the decimal expansion of an irrational number? Is the concept of an infinitely long sequence of digits compatible with the concept of that sequence repeating and, if so, what discipline in math addresses such a thing?

Best Answer

The only way for an infinite sequence of digits to repeat is if the second occurrence is a shift of the first occurrence, with offset $n$ say. But then the sequence repeats with period at most $n$.

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