(ORDO NEWS) — In general, π (pi) is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, which is used to denote a well-known mathematical constant. It is equal to the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. But how was pi calculated at all?
As we have already noted, by definition, π is the ratio of the circumference of a circle (C) to its diameter (d). In other words, π is equal to the circumference divided by the diameter (π = c/d), and vice versa, the circumference of a circle is equal to π times the diameter (c = πd). No matter how big or small the circle is, pi will always be the same number – roughly 3.14.
What is the number Pi
Pi is an irrational number, meaning it cannot be expressed as a simple fraction. The thing is that the number Pi, as mathematicians call it, is an “infinite decimal fraction” that will never end. It looks something like this:
There is even a world record recorded in the Guinness book – on March 21, 2015, the Indian Rajvir Mine was able to remember and reproduce 70 thousand digits of pi after the decimal point.
Meanwhile, some programmers have calculated the value of pi to over 22 trillion digits. Such achievements are often announced on the annual holiday of the constant – Pi Day, which is celebrated every year on March 14 (3/14).
But fortunately, there is no need to use all the digits of π – it is reduced to 3.14 or to 3.14159. But in case you’re wondering, piday.org has numbers for pi up to the first million.
How Pi is Calculated
The number Pi has been known for almost 4,000 years – it was first used by the ancient Babylonians. Ancient tablets from around 1900-1680 BC have come down to us, on which it is written that Pi is equal to 3.125.
The ancient Egyptians also made similar discoveries, as evidenced by the Rinda Papyrus of 1650 BC. e. In this document, the Egyptians calculated the area of a circle using a formula that also gives Pi an approximate value of 3.1605.
The first recorded calculation of pi was by Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC), the same scientist who promised to move the Earth if given a foothold.
He determined the approximate value of the number Pi through the Pythagorean theorem – first, with its help, he found the areas of two polygons, and then calculated the area of \u200b\u200bthe circle, based on the area of \u200b\u200bthe regular polygon inscribed in this circle, and the area of \u200b\u200bthe regular polygon inside which the circle was described. So Archimedes got the approximate value of Pi, which was between 3.1428 and 3.1408.
And in 1706, the British mathematician William Jones denoted the constant with the symbol π and began to use the value 3.14159 for calculations.
An interesting fact about pi
In honor of the number Pi, a language was even created – Pilish . This is a dialect of the English language, the essence of which is to compose sentences in such a way that the number of letters in the words going in order will correspond to each subsequent element of the constant. Now let’s give an example and it will become clearer.
Now I fall, a tired suburbian in liquid under the trees, Drifting alongside forests simmering red in the twilight over Europe
This is an excerpt from Mike Keith’s Not A Wake, the first piece to be written entirely in Pilish.
The first character of pi is a triple, which means that the first word of the sentence must also consist of three letters – in the above sentence this is the word now.
Next comes the number 1, and then 4 – accordingly, the author of the book specifically selects words that are suitable for the number of characters – the one-letter pronoun I and the four-letter verb fall. The rest of the words are chosen in the same way.
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