How was pi discovered?
458186
The value of π has been known in some form since antiquity. As early as the 19th century BC, Babylonian mathematicians were using π=25/8, which is within 0.5% of the exact value.\n\nThe Egyptian scribe Ahmes wrote the oldest known text to give an approximate value for π, citing a Middle Kingdom papyrus, corresponding to a value of 256 divided by 81 or 3.160.\n\nIt is sometimes claimed that the Bible states that π=3, based on a passage in 1 Kings 7:23 giving measurements for a round basin as having a 10 cubit diameter and a 30 cubit circumference. Rabbi Nehemiah explained this by the diameter being from outside to outside while the circumference was the inner brim; but it may suffice that the measurements are given in round numbers. Also, the basin may not have been exactly circular.\n\nThe Chinese mathematician Liu Hui computed π to 3.141014 (good to three decimal places) in AD 263 and suggested that 3.14 was a good approximation.\n\nThe Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata in the 5th century gave the approximation π = 62832/20000 = 3.1416, correct when rounded off to four decimal places.\n\nThe Chinese mathematician and astronomer Zu Chongzhi computed π to be between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927 and gave two approximations of π, 355/113 and 22/7, in the 5th century.\n\nThe Indian mathematician and astronomer Madhava of Sangamagrama in the 14th century computed the value of π after tranforming the power series expansion of π/4 into the form\n\nπ = √12(1 - 1/(33) + 1/(532) - 1/(733) + ... \nand using the first 21 terms of this series to compute a rational approximation of π correct to 11 decimal places as 3.14159265359. By adding a remainder term to the original power series of π/4, he was able to compute π to an accuracy of 13 decimal places.\n\nThe Persian Muslim mathematician and astronomer Ghyath ad-din Jamshid Kashani (1350-1439) correctly computed π to 9 digits in the base of 60, which is equivalent to 16 decimal digits as:\n\n2 π = 6.2831853071795865 \nThe German mathematician Ludolph van Ceulen in 1615 computed the first 32 decimal places of π. He was so proud of this accomplishment that he had them inscribed on his tombstone.\n\nIn 1789, the Slovene mathematician Jurij Vega improved John Machin's formula from 1706 and calculated the first 140 decimal places for π of which the first 126 were correct [1] and held the world record for 52 years until 1841, when William Rutherford calculated 208 decimal places of which the first 152 were correct.\n\nThe English amateur mathematician William Shanks, a man of independent means, spent over 20 years calculating π to 707 decimal places (accomplished in 1873). In 1944, D. F. Ferguson found (with the aid of a mechanical desk calculator) that Shanks had made a mistake in the 528th decimal place, and that all succeeding digits were fallacious.
85817
various formulas for computing pi:\nhttp://mathworld.wolfram.com/PiFormulas.html\nall sorts of fun stuff with pi here:\nhttp://mathworld.wolfram.com/PiDigits.html
275576
pi is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter.  It has been estimated over the years by many mathmeticians but now we have got it down to a lot of decimal places.  try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
482434
Pi is never mentioned in the Bible; it is implied!   We (and let me repeat, we) deduce that pi is the 30 cubits around by 10 cubits brim to brim simplifies to just 3.    \n\nThe translations of the Bible over the span of mankind have changed the wordings and even the meanings of some verses.\nSince the original author(s) of Kings was inspired by God they would have spent their minds on faith and poetic emotion rather than intense technical information such as describing decimals.  The information for someone building or doing basic construction can and easily get by with just an approximate value of 3
20408
Impossible to answer.  Pi is an irrational number meaning that the numbers after the decimal will continue until infinity.  While supercomputers can give the number to "upteen" decimal places, we can never know the last decimal place.
587235
E = energy, M = mass, C = the speed of light\nPi = 3.14159265353589793238462643383279502884197169399375\nSo much for the numbers as there are many more, Pi enables the identification of all that was and ever will be. It is an accountants and mathematicians tool.\nIt is also a noun in that it is the Greek translation of the Egyptian Hieroglyph which describes the Crystal Magnetite. Magnetite is a double pyramid, isometric. Play with the crystal in the palm of your hand, you can feel the energy that powers the soul.\nPhysically it is '1' unit. It sides number eight (8) the symbol for infinity. All sides form a triangle, the mark of the Trinity. The degrees of the angle are 60 and 3 - 60s' are 180 degrees. Two pyramids faces North and South encompass 360 degrees which is full circle, another symbol of infinity. Four faces North and four faces South with a base of a square. Pi X the Radius squared = the circumference. Geometric it is the triangle the square and the circle. The Triangle and the square are recognizable but the circle is not. It is the mind that must fill in the void. E = R I is always presented in the pyramid. E = Voltage, R = resistance & I = amppreage.\nNo electrical device can exist without one of the three. Magnets are a electrical energy source, Loadstone is the dust of magnetite. Magnetite is likewise greater than Uranium as a power source in that it is not harmful to our well being and the world in which we inhabit. It is in fact what the Universe is, and that is Energy (electrical), & Gravity. The flow of the magnetic wave is seen in the flux between the north and the south and it exist through the mechanism of the helix; as in DNA spiral. \nYes, Pi = infinity is Heaven. It is one third antimatter. Antimatter, It is the Resistance of the Formula E=RI. Alternating current is the Antichrist. It is God and it is not Religion. God is a three letter word it is the Trinity. GOD is everywhere, it is in your blood and all that is you. Fe3, O4 atomic wt. 144.24, All the numbers have multipole meanings. It is a wiseman who understands.
230425
How about the discovery of pi, or the the number zero? These are crowd pleasers :), and you can find lots of material on the web, for instance:\n\nhttp://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/Pi_through_the_ages.html
325893
PI= π = 22/7 = 3.1428571428571428571428571428571\n\nIn Euclidean plane geometry, π may be defined either as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, or as the ratio of a circle's area to the area of a square whose side is the radius. Advanced textbooks define π analytically using trigonometric functions, for example as the smallest positive x for which sin(x) = 0, or as twice the smallest positive x for which cos(x) = 0.\n\nAll these definitions are equivalent, they amount to the following numerical value of π, truncated to 50 decimal places:\n\n3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510
195921
Pi is 3.14159265 and is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter\n\nPhi is 1.61803399 and is known as the golden ratio, evident in everything from rose petals, the building of the pyramids and the painting of the mona lisa.
719853
newton discovered it.but Einstein proved it is not.one day he photograph the stars continuously at one photograph it's slightly move in zig zag.
994391
cute question. you have imagination. I think he was pi$$ed
1158388
In Euclidean plane geometry, π(Pi) is defined either as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, or as the ratio of a circle's area to the area of a square whose side is the radius. π may be defined in many other ways, for example as the smallest positive x for which sin(x) = 0. See other formulas below. All these definitions are equivalent.\n\nArea of Circle = Pi.(Radius)^2\nPerimeter of Circle (Circumference)=2.Pi.Radius.\nYes .. it has someting to do with Statistics :\n\nIn probability and statistics, there are many distributions whose formulæ contain π, including:\n\nprobability density function (pdf) for the normal distribution with mean μ and standard deviation σ : \nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
776144
Pi is irrational number. Super computers are used to calcluate Pi upto more and more digits. You can find more details in
51187
pi is a perimeter around a circle, it's 3.14 because if we wrote the actual number of pi it wouldn't stop
473889
Since ancient history regarding the concept.\n\nHistory of the notation:\n\nThe symbol "π" for Archimedes' constant was first introduced in 1706 by William Jones when he published A New Introduction to Mathematics, although the same symbol had been used earlier to indicate the circumference of a circle. The notation became standard after it was adopted by Leonhard Euler. In either case, 'π' is the first letter of περιφέρεια (periphereia, the Greek word for periphery) or περίμετρον (perimetron), meaning 'measure around' in Greek.
240435
Pi is the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference as well as the ratio of the circle's area to a square with the same sidelength as its radius. This made Pi useful to many ancient societies, as the circle is the shape that encloses the largest area with a given circumference, so we don't really know who formulated the importance of Pi first. \nDue to the n-dimensional circle (n-sphere) being a model for periodic phenomena, a natural way of measuring angles (the radian and steradian are inspired by the 1- and 2-sphere respectively) and homeomorphisms of the n-dimensional ball being important in differential geometry and manifold theory (integrals of forms over spheres are common in physics), Pi shows up almost everywhere in modern mathematics and physics.
295056
history of PI~~\nthe symbol "π" for Archimedes' constant was first introduced in 1706 by William Jones when he published A New Introduction to Mathematics, although the same symbol had been used earlier to indicate the circumference of a circle. The notation became standard after it was adopted by Leonhard Euler. In either case, 'π' is the first letter of περιμετρος (perimetros), meaning 'measure around' in Greek