7/31/2019 A Little Slice of Pi

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A Little Slice of Pi

By Peter Price

is the number given to the ratio between the diameter and the

circumference of a circle. It is one of those fascinating constants that

have intrigued mankind for years. The discovery of this number is

unknown but it has been around for some time.

The Babylonians (1900 1600BC) and Egyptians (1900 1680BC) are the first

civilizations that are documented to have used pi. The Babylonians found that the

area of a circle can be found by taking three times the square of the radius which

gave them a value of three. There is also one tablet that shows a value of 3.125.

Documentation shows that the Egyptians used22

/7, also they found that to find the

area of circle you can square a side that is8

/9 the size of the diameter which givesyou a value of 3.16045.

The first theoretical calculation of pi was done by Archimedes of Syracuse (287 212BC). One of the most brilliant mathematicians of the ancient world, hediscovered that if you inscribe and circumscribe two polygons around a circle youset bounds that the area of the circle must be between. Using this method he foundthat 223/71