Hunt For Pi Essay

My research demonstrates how a desire to calculate the area of circular regions for constructions purposes led ancient mathematicians to develop methods from which pi could be derived and why pi is still a major subject today even though the number of digits approximated has long since passed the point of practicality. I separated the research into two parts, one dedicated to the history of pi and another to analyzing a few of the prominent methods of approximating pi, by reading scholarly articles, books, and other resources. The analysis shows that the hunt for pi has persisted because of the challenge it presents to mathematicians and the hope they hold of uncovering other secrets of mathematics in the process. It appears that, while nothing

I began the semester by speaking with my professor about how a project in his class would work. I have never done a project of any kind, let alone a paper, in a math class before and this was the first semester that there would be an honors math class so I could not receive help from any of my peers or Professor Kyser. He provided the class with a list of prompts that he continued to expand for a few weeks so that we could choose a topic that actually had something to do with calculus. There was a large variety of topics to choose, from relating calculus to warranties to finding a specific digit of pi. After much deliberation, I finally chose to research approximations methods of pi for a number of reasons: the topic seemed interesting, I could find a reasonable amount of information about it, and the possible significance or applications seemed to be the most prominent of all the topics. Next came the first researching stage where I performed my initial research into approximation methods of pi. Before I could start the research in earnest though, I required assistance from a librarian on how to navigate the various research databases. David Puller showed me how to navigate a few of the major databases using my specific topic,