Pi is a quantity that relates a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Pi is an irrational quantity, which signifies that it is an actual quantity that can not be expressed by a easy fraction. That’s as a result of pi is what mathematicians name an “infinite decimal” — after the decimal level, the digits go on perpetually and ever.
Students are normally launched to the quantity pi as having an approximate worth of three.14 or 3.14159. Though it is an irrational quantity, some folks use rational expressions, equivalent to 22/7 or 333/106, to estimate pi. (These rational expressions are correct solely to a few decimal locations.)
Mathematicians and math fanatics are keen on calculating pi to as many digits as potential. The file for reciting essentially the most digits of pi belongs to Suresh Kumar Sharma of India, who recited pi to 70,030 decimal locations in 2015, in keeping with the Pi World Ranking List. Meanwhile, some pc applications have calculated the worth of pi to an astounding 62.8 trillion digits, Live Science beforehand reported. Calculations like these are sometimes unveiled on Pi Day, a pseudo-holiday that happens yearly on March 14 (3/14).
Related: 11 numbers which might be cooler than pi
What are the primary 100 digits of pi?
The first 100 digits of pi are:
3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 7067
The website piday.org has pi listed to the primary 1 million digits.
Where does pi come from?
By definition, pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. In different phrases, pi equals the circumference divided by the diameter (π = c/d). Conversely, the circumference of a circle is equal to pi instances the diameter (c = πd). No matter how massive or small a circle is, pi will all the time work out to be the identical quantity. Pi (π) is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet and is used to characterize the extensively identified mathematical fixed.
Who invented pi?
Pi has been identified for practically 4,000 years and was found by the traditional Babylonians. A pill courting to someplace between 1900 B.C. and 1680 B.C. discovered pi to be 3.125, in accordance to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. People in historical Egypt had been making comparable discoveries, as evidenced by the Rhind papyrus of 1650 B.C. In this doc, the Egyptians calculated the world of a circle by a components giving pi an approximate worth of three.1605. There is even a biblical verse the place it seems pi was approximated, in accordance to a correspondence printed in 1999 within the journal Nature:
And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the opposite: it was spherical all about, and his peak was 5 cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about. — I Kings 7:23 (King James Version)
One of the primary calculations of pi was carried out by Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (287 B.C. to 212 B.C.), in accordance to the Exploratorium. Archimedes used the Pythagorean theorem to search out the areas of two polygons. Archimedes approximated the world of a circle primarily based on the world of an everyday polygon inscribed inside the circle and the world of an everyday polygon inside which the circle was circumscribed. The polygons, as Archimedes mapped them, gave the higher and decrease bounds for the world of a circle, and he approximated pi at between 3 1/7 and three 10/71.
Earlier, Chinese mathematician and astronomer Zu Chongzhi (429 B.C. to 501 B.C.) had calculated pi utilizing an analogous technique, discovering the worth to be 355/113. Unfortunately, Zu’s e-book of writing has been misplaced, so little is identified about his work or strategies.
British mathematician William Jones was the primary to start utilizing the image π to characterize pi, in 1706.
What is pi used for?
In fundamental arithmetic, pi is used to search out the world and circumference of a circle. Pi can be utilized to search out an space by multiplying the radius of the circle squared instances pi. So, to search out the world of a circle with a radius of three centimeters, the calculation can be π3^2 = 28.27 cm. Because circles seem generally in nature and are sometimes utilized in different mathematical equations, pi is throughout us and is used always.
Pi has even trickled into the literary world. Pilish is a type of writing English through which the numbers of letters in successive phrases comply with the digits of pi, in accordance to author Mike Keith. Keith used Pilish in his e-book “Not A Wake.” Here is an instance from the e-book: “Now I fall, a tired suburbian in liquid under the trees, Drifting alongside forests simmering red in the twilight over Europe.”
“Now” has 3 letters, “I” has 1 letter, “fall” has 4 letters, “a” has 1 letter, and so forth.
This article was up to date on Oct. 19, 2018, by Live Science senior author Brandon Specktor. It was up to date once more on March 3, 2022, by Live Science contributor Adam Mann.
Additional sources
Bibliography
Exploratorium. (n.d.). A short historical past of pi. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/history-of-pi
Keith, M. (2010). Not a wake. Vinculum Press. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from http://www.cadaeic.net/notawake.htm
Keith, M. (n.d.). Writing in Philish. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from http://www.cadaeic.net/pilish.htm
Mometrix Test Preparation. (n.d.) 1 million digits of pi. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.piday.org/million
Peil, N. (1999). Biblical reply to cooking up pi. Nature 399(522). https://www.nature.com/articles/21064
Pi World Ranking List. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.pi-world-ranking-list.com/?page=lists&category=pi
The Nine Planets (2020, October 8). Hilarious pi jokes. https://nineplanets.org/pi-jokes/
