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 circles 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 pis 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 . Thats because its 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 hasnt stopped humanity from furiously chipping away at pis unending mountain of digits. Weve been at it for millennia.
People have been interested in the number for basically as long weve understood math. The ancient Egyptians, according to a document that also happens to be the worlds 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 ...
Pi are round and cornbread are square.
A circle has four sides: inside, outside, top and bottom.
Random forever. If the digits started to repeat, that means it’s a fraction where you know the numerator and denominator.
BTW here’s an easy but slow formula for approximating it:
pi = 4 x (1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 ...)
It’s an infinite sequence of fractions, but you never get to a fraction that’s the “last” fraction.
It’s also great for driving aliens out of starship computers.
IIRC, isn’t there something about using calculus to find the limit of perimeter of a polygon as number of sides approaches infinity? It’s been many years.
Sometimes I wonder if stuff like this is a kind of mathematical sarcasm.
You can’t reach the last digit of pi because you can’t reach infinity. The formula for pie simply rounds the corners off the tangents of a circle and the the deeper you calculate, the more perfect the circle. You can’t have a calculation perfectly round circle. It will simply grow forever in it’s precision
lol@pie I need breakfast
I’m craving cornbread now.
Pi, like the square root of two and many others, are irrational numbers. There is no end to them. And in that way they are like Bill Clinton who isn’t circumcised because there is no end to that pr*ck. lol
e**(i*pi) + 1 = 0
22/7 = Pi.
🌽(🍞) = 🍕xx 🍻 [pie to the power of two beers]
I generally round it to closest 10,000th: 3.1416. That works well for any use I have.
Pi are round, cornbread are square. That was a funny skit many, many years ago.
Not a problem. Some schools are changing Pi to 3.0 because you know, terrified snowflakes having their self esteem damaged.
Well, what did they expect? It’s an irrational number, maybe they should look up the definition for that.
Just leave my pie alone.
“Its also great for driving aliens out of starship computers.”
What series does that come from?
Star Trek TOS.
The one about Scotty being a murder suspect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.