![]() ![]() Pi has even trickled into the literary world. Because circles appear commonly in nature and are often used in other mathematical equations, pi is all around us and is used constantly. So, to find the area of a circle with a radius of 3 centimeters, the calculation would be π3^2 = 28.27 cm. Pi can be used to find an area by multiplying the radius of the circle squared times pi. In basic mathematics, pi is used to find the area and circumference of a circle. Unfortunately, Zu's book of writing has been lost, so little is known about his work or methods.īritish mathematician William Jones was the first to begin using the symbol π to represent pi, in 1706. to 501 B.C.) had calculated pi using a similar method, finding the value to be 355/113. (Image credit: Stock Montage via Getty Images)Įarlier, Chinese mathematician and astronomer Zu Chongzhi (429 B.C. ![]() 287 - 212 BC) as he ponders a mathematical diagram just before his death at the hands of invading Roman soldiers in Syracuse, Sicily, in 212 BC. The polygons, as Archimedes mapped them, gave the upper and lower bounds for the area of a circle, and he approximated pi at between 3 1/7 and 3 10/71.Īn engraving that depicts the last moments of Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes (c. Archimedes approximated the area of a circle based on the area of a regular polygon inscribed within the circle and the area of a regular polygon within which the circle was circumscribed. Archimedes used the Pythagorean theorem to find the areas of two polygons. to 212 B.C.), according to the Exploratorium (opens in new tab). One of the first calculations of pi was carried out by Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (287 B.C. There is even a biblical verse where it appears pi was approximated, according to a correspondence published in 1999 in the journal Nature (opens in new tab):Īnd he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about. In this document, the Egyptians calculated the area of a circle by a formula giving pi an approximate value of 3.1605. People in ancient Egypt were making similar discoveries, as evidenced by the Rhind papyrus of 1650 B.C. found pi to be 3.125, according to the Exploratorium in San Francisco (opens in new tab). A tablet dating to somewhere between 1900 B.C. Pi has been known for nearly 4,000 years and was discovered by the ancient Babylonians. Pi (π) is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet and is used to represent the widely known mathematical constant. No matter how large or small a circle is, pi will always work out to be the same number. Conversely, the circumference of a circle is equal to pi times the diameter (c = πd). In other words, pi equals the circumference divided by the diameter (π = c/d). ![]() Some equations on the geometry of circles (Image credit: Barry Barnes via Shutterstock)īy definition, pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. ![]()
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