Posted on 03/15/2018 2:50:28 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Depending on your philosophical views on time and calendars and so on, today is something like the 4.5 billionth Pi Day that Earth has witnessed. But that long history is nothing compared to the infinity of pi itself.
A refresher for those of you who have forgotten your seventh-grade math lessons1: Pi, or the Greek letter π
, is a mathematical constant equal to the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter — C/d. It lurks in every circle, and equals approximately 3.14. (Hence Pi Day, which takes place on March 14, aka 3/14.)
But the simplicity of its definition belies pi’s status as the most fascinating, and most studied, number in the history of the world. While treating pi as equal to 3.14 is often good enough, the number really continues on forever, a seemingly random series of digits ambling infinitely outward and obeying no discernible pattern — 3.14159265358979…. That’s because it’s an irrational number, meaning that it cannot be represented by a fraction of two whole numbers (although approximations such as 22/7 can come close).
But that hasn’t stopped humanity from furiously chipping away at pi’s unending mountain of digits. We’ve been at it for millennia.
People have been interested in the number for basically as long we’ve understood math. The ancient Egyptians, according to a document that also happens to be the world’s oldest collection of math puzzles, knew that pi was something like 3.1. A millennium or so later, an estimate of pi showed up in the bible: The Old Testament, in 1 Kings, seems to imply that pi equals 3: “And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about … and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.”
(Excerpt) Read more at fivethirtyeight.com ...
I say we round it to three. We’re already rounding it by an infinite number of digits, what’s a few more.
If you are calculating the circumference of a pizza, you don't need many digits. But try it with the circumference of an orbit, say of the International Space Station. The digits begin to really matter. I know it out to about 15 and much prefer simply using a calculator!
When I was young and I asked for help with my homework, my pappy said, “Son, pie are round and cornbread are square.” That’s pretty much all the math I’ve needed since.
Supposedly, if you know ok to thirty digits then you can measure a circle as big as the known universe.
Sounds like it’s gonna be random forever.
What is the number “cornbread” equal to, and what is its symbol? :-D
No, had they gone to 22 trillion and 2 digits they would have found out that it ends, but they gave up 2 digits early. Now we’ll never know.
Even in Geometry there is no such thing as a perfect circle. If there was we’d have found the final decimal place for Pi by now. No matter how many points are used to define a circle at any radius, it will still have its corners at every point.
Obviously, pi will never have an exact value. The number of sides of those polygons can increase without limit. I don't understand why it took all of these geniuses and all of that computer time to try to find an exact value for pi. Applying this process, it's a situation that can never exist. Thus, pi is irrational.
“People have been interested in the number for basically as long we’ve understood math.”
Not me. 3.14 is just fine as is. I have other things to do.
Ratio of whole number sized radius to infinitely fractioned circumference of circle.
Basically two different paradigm of measurement or coordinate system. One is cartesian square and the other speaks of angle and radius to define a position on a map. It is like two different units/methods of measurements which are converted using the number pi.
You also have logarithmic scales , square roots and many other sort of irrational numbers
Pi is so darn irrational!
Since they know it’s infinite, why do they keep counting? And just who are counting, do they work in shifts?
Good thing 4.20 day is only about a month away!
Too early in the day to start on such a math project......
Have to get my coffee first. (Enjoy your challenge)
I never fully understood pie are squared thingy as all the pies I’ve ever laid eyes on have been round.
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