Pi - The Mathematical Wonder
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342
For years now the number Pi has confused, amazed, and frustrated mathematicians. �As of now, Pi is considered irrational (which means it has no ending). �But there are people out there trying to prove that Pi is indeed rational. �But since Pi has been taken out to 6.4 billion decimals, I doubt Pi is a rational number. ��
Pi was first used by the Babylonians around the time of 2000 BC. �Their value for Pi was (25/8) or 3.125. �Later around 1650 BC an Egyptian�scribe by the name of Ahmes wrote down different math formulas the Egyptians used to solve math problems, and written on the scroll was a number close to Pi which was used to figure out the area of a circle. �The Egpytians used Pi as 3 but later changed Pi to (22/7) = 3.142857143. �They also used (256/81) = 3.160493827.
Here is a table showing the value of Pi as thought of by early civilizations and mathematicians.
Civilization/Mathematician |
Date |
Value for Pi |
Babylonians |
2000 BC |
(25/8) |
Egyptians |
1650 BC |
3 & (22/7) & (256/81) |
The Holy Bible - 1 Kings chapter 7 verse 23 |
approximatley 3 |
|
Archimedes of Syracuse |
250 BC |
3(10/71) < Pi < 3(10/70) |
Ptolemy of Alexandria (Egypt) |
150 AD |
(377/120) |
Tsu Ch'ung-Chi (Chinese) |
500 AD |
(355/133) |
Of course the symbol wasn't used
until Welshman William Jones back in 1706. �Euler (the same guy who
worked with the letter e in logs) started to use the
symbol and the symbol stuck.
�Before Jones and Euler used
as Pi, the symbols meant the number 80 in Greek. �
But what exactly is this number and what is it's use? �Click here to find out!
What to know some extra information on Pi? �Here are some tidbits on Pi.