To start off, pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter (Bennet, Burton, & Nelson, 2012). This is approximately equal to 3.14159. In equation form it is calculated like this: π = C/d (Shell, 2013). Pi is also an irrational and transcendental number. This means that it will continue infinitely without any repetition or pattern. It also cannot be expressed accurately as a fraction and the decimal never ends (Shell, 2013).
The history of pi is a very confusing one. No one knows exactly who discovered it; they just know assumptions and possible coincidences. Many believe that the Babylonians were the first to find pi (Shell, 2013). They calculated the circumference of a circle and then they took three times the square of its radius. This gave them the sum of the earliest idea of pi=3 (Shell, 2013). Most reports have said that it’s extremely hard to pinpoint the exact person who became conscious of the constant ratio between circumference and diameter but it is said that humans became aware of it around 2550 BC.
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built between 2550 and 2500 BC with a perimeter of 1760 cubits and 280 cubits in height (Shell, 2013). This gives the ratio of 22/7, which is commonly used in estimating pi. Egyptologists believe that these proportions were chosen because of pi, but many other experts believe that it was completely accidental.
Archimedes has been credited as being the first to actually calculate an accurate estimate of pi by finding the areas of two polygons. Inside the polygons was an inscribed circle. An example is in the picture shown below (Shell, 2013):
Archimedes was born in 287 BC in Syracuse, Sicily. Much like the history of pi, his life is very obscure. His friend, Heracleides, wr...
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Discovering the Magical Pi (Lesson Plan) - TeacherVision.com. (2014). Retrieved March 25, 2014, from https://www.teachervision.com/math/lesson-plan/3430.html
Learn About Pi · Pi Day. (2014). Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://www.piday.org/learn-about-pi/ Neuschwander, C., & Geehan, W. (1999). Sir Cumference and the dragon of pi: A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Rollins, K. (2014). Retrieved March 25, 2014, from https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/songs/pi-song.pdf
Shell, B. (2013). Discovering Pi. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3970?ref=search
(“Learn About Pi Day, 2014)
Wolchover, N. (2012, August 9). What Makes Pi So Special? | What Does Pi
Mean? | LiveScience. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from
http://www.livescience.com/34132-what-makes-pi-special.html
After 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes calculation about Earth's circumference was used correctly in different locations such as Alexandria and syene (Aswan now) by simple geometry and the shadows cast. Eratosthenes's results undertaken in 1ST century by Posidonius, were corroborated in Alexandria and Rhodes by the comparison between remarks is excellent.
Geometry, a cornerstone in modern civilization, also had its beginnings in Ancient Greece. Euclid, a mathematician, formed many geometric proofs and theories [Document 5]. He also came to one of the most significant discoveries of math, Pi. This number showed the ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle.
Pi has many traits that tend to enhance throughout the story, but we would like to elaborate further on his religious beliefs. It would be an understatement to say that Pi is simply a religious person. Pi’s initial religion was Hinduism, but as time went on he began to practice several ‘separate’ religions. Everyone told Pi that he could only have one religion to which he countered, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.” (87 Martel) At one time he asked his mother for a prayer rug and made this point, “If there’s only one nation in the sky, shouldn’t all passports be valid for it?” (93 Martel) Through all of the tragedy and sorrow that Pi had to endure, even through times of great doubt, Pi always came back to his
Archimedes is said to be born in Syracuse, a Greek City State in the island of Sicily, around 287 B.C. ("The Archimedes Palimpsest") His great level of intelligence was not totally surprising due to the fact that he was the son of Phidias who was a mathematician and astronomer himself. Some people believe that Archimedes may have been related to Hiero II, the King of Syracuse at the time, but it cannot be confirmed. ("Famous
Pi, short for Piscine, meaning a rational source of water, is a rational man living in the irrational world, who believes in not one, but three religions, which some may say is irrational. Pi, whose family owned a zoo, faced many hardships
In about 200 BC the Greek Eratosthenes devised an algorithm for calculating primes called the Sieve of Eratosthenes.
Pi is an indian, but except Hinduism, he also believes in Christianity and Islam. It is pretty unusual. However, these three religions save his life when he meets storm on the sea. Religion is a key component in Pi’s survival because it lets him understand that he has to coexist with other creatures, it leads Pi to accept that even if he did not survive he would be redeemed, and it gives Pi the hope for survival.
In addition, when Pi is in university and is introducing himself to each of his classes he uses repetition to explain his name. He says his name, writes it on the board, and underlines it. Pi uses ritual to get people in the habit of calling him Pi. This has significance to his past zoo life. Zoo animals need lots of care, this includes feedings, cleanings, and training. Pi is used to ritual, he knows that animals learn/live off of routine, and repetition, and so he has applied these skills to his classmates indicating a similarity between animals, and humans. Animals learn off of repetition, and routine, as do humans. Pi 's name has a mathematical link which has major symbolism to the entire novel. We all know that Pi is a large, and complicated number. Pi says in the novel, "That 's one thing I hate about my nickname, the way that number runs on forever." (Martel 316). I feel like the author included this quote to signify that Pi has been on a long journey, just like Pi says the numbers continue on. This quote was said towards the ending of the novel, and could represent the
Tubbs, Robert. What is a Number? Mathematical Concepts and Their Origins. Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins
In his dealings with plane geometry, Archimedes wrote several treatises, three of which survive today: Measurement of a Circle, Quatdrature of the Parabola, and On Spirals. It is in Measurements of a Circle that Archimedes reveals how he calculated Pi.
By 1904 Ramanujan had begun to undertake deep research. He investigated the series (1/n) and calculated Euler's constant to 15 decimal places. He began to study the numbers, which is entirely his own independent discovery.
Of all the pyramids of Egypt, the first three are held in the highest regards. This is known as the Great Pyramid. It was built for the Pharaoh Khufu. The Great Pyramid is about 450 feet tall and covers about 13 acres. The subject of this pyramid was to honor the pharaoh and show him some respect. It took about 100,000 workers and 20 years to build the pyramid.
They constructed the 12-month calendar which they based on the cycles of the moon. Other than that, they also created a mathematical system based on the number 60 which they called the Sexagesimal. Though, our mathematics today is not based on their system it acts like a foundation for some mathematicians. They also used the basic mathematics- addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, in keeping track of their records- one of their contributions to this world, bookkeeping. It was also suggested that they even discovered the number of the pi for they knew how to solve the circumference of the circle (Atif, 2013).
There are many people that contributed to the discovery of irrational numbers. Some of these people include Hippasus of Metapontum, Leonard Euler, Archimedes, and Phidias. Hippasus found the √2. Leonard Euler found the number e. Archimedes found Π. Phidias found the golden ratio. Hippasus found the first irrational number of √2. In the 5th century, he was trying to find the length of the sides of a pentagon. He successfully found the irrational number when he found the hypotenuse of an isosceles right triangle. He is thought to have found this magnificent finding at sea. However, his work is often discounted or not recognized because he was supposedly thrown overboard by fellow shipmates. His work contradicted the Pythagorean mathematics that was already in place. The fundamentals of the Pythagorean mathematics was that number and geometry were not able to be separated (Irrational Number, 2014).
Ever wonder how scientists figure out how long it takes for the radiation from a nuclear weapon to decay? This dilemma can be solved by calculus, which helps determine the rate of decay of the radioactive material. Calculus can aid people in many everyday situations, such as deciding how much fencing is needed to encompass a designated area. Finding how gravity affects certain objects is how calculus aids people who study Physics. Mechanics find calculus useful to determine rates of flow of fluids in a car. Numerous developments in mathematics by Ancient Greeks to Europeans led to the discovery of integral calculus, which is still expanding. The first mathematicians came from Egypt, where they discovered the rule for the volume of a pyramid and approximation of the area of a circle. Later, Greeks made tremendous discoveries. Archimedes extended the method of inscribed and circumscribed figures by means of heuristic, which are rules that are specific to a given problem and can therefore help guide the search. These arguments involved parallel slices of figures and the laws of the lever, the idea of a surface as made up of lines. Finding areas and volumes of figures by using conic section (a circle, point, hyperbola, etc.) and weighing infinitely thin slices of figures, an idea used in integral calculus today was also a discovery of Archimedes. One of Archimedes's major crucial discoveries for integral calculus was a limit that allows the "slices" of a figure to be infinitely thin. Another Greek, Euclid, developed ideas supporting the theory of calculus, but the logic basis was not sustained since infinity and continuity weren't established yet (Boyer 47). His one mistake in finding a definite integral was that it is not found by the sums of an infinite number of points, lines, or surfaces but by the limit of an infinite sequence (Boyer 47). These early discoveries aided Newton and Leibniz in the development of calculus. In the 17th century, people from all over Europe made numerous mathematics discoveries in the integral calculus field. Johannes Kepler "anticipat(ed) results found… in the integral calculus" (Boyer 109) with his summations. For instance, in his Astronomia nova, he formed a summation similar to integral calculus dealing with sine and cosine. F. B. Cavalieri expanded on Johannes Kepler's work on measuring volumes. Also, he "investigate[d] areas under the curve" ("Calculus (mathematics)") with what he called "indivisible magnitudes.