3.14159………
March 13, 2012 Leave a comment
March 14th is celebrated as π day (22/7 = 3.14…….). when date is written in MM/DD/YYYY format 3.14 is approximate value of π.A question raises why not (22/7) July 22nd is celebrated as pi day & it is celebrate as π-approximation day since 22/7 is is the approximate value of Pi. π is an irrational number, which means that its value cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction having integers in both the numerator and denominator (unlike 22/7). π is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter which is called as Archimedes‘ Constant, after Archimedes of Syracuse who provided an approximation of the number during the 3rd century BC.
π is a Greek letter which was adopted for the number as an abbreviation of the Greek word for perimeter (περίμετρος).
Throughout the history Scholars tried to find out most accurate value of π.Most-precise calculation of π as of September 2011, if verified, stands at 5 trillion decimal digits.
Approximations of π
The Indian text Shatapatha Brahmana (composed between the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, Iron Age India)[46] gives π as 339/108 ≈ 3.139.
The earliest known textually evidenced approximations of pi which were found in the Egyptian Rhind Papyrus 256/81 ≈ 3.160 and on Babylonian tablets 25/8 = 3.125, both within 1 percent of the true value dated around 1900 BC.
Archimedes (287–212 BC) was the first to estimate π rigorously by inscribing circles in regular polygons and calculating the outer and inner polygons’ respective perimeters,By using the equivalent of 96-sided polygons value is about 3.14185.
Nobel prize winning poet Wisława Szymborska wrote a poem about π, and here is an excerpt
The caravan of digits that is pi
does not stop at the edge of the page,
but runs off the table and into the air,
over the wall, a leaf, a bird’s nest, the clouds, straight into the sky,
through all the bloatedness and bottomlessness.
Oh how short, all but mouse-like is the comet’s tail!
does not stop at the edge of the page,
but runs off the table and into the air,
over the wall, a leaf, a bird’s nest, the clouds, straight into the sky,
through all the bloatedness and bottomlessness.
Oh how short, all but mouse-like is the comet’s tail!
π is often used in Geometry, Trigonometry,Complex numbers, Calculus, Physics, Probability and statistics.
14th March is not only Pi day but also happens to be birthday of Albert Einstein so this is an event to be celebrated.