Discovery of PiKsenia Bykova

Table of Contents

•What is Pi?

• Discovery of pi

• Record approximations of Pi

• Pi’s impact

• Interesting facts about Pi

• Pi is everywhere!

• Sources

• Picture citations

What is Pi?“The number π is a mathematical constant which measures the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. The Greek letter "π" represents “PI”, and since the mid-18th century it is also sometimes spelled out as “pi”.” ("Pi." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.)

Discovery of Pi

• There is no record how people lived before the discovery of pi and what formulas they used instead of pi.

• Babylonians established the constant circle ratio as 3.125.

• Ahmes, an Egyptian, wrote one of the first known records of Pi on the Rhind Papyrus. He was off by less than 1% of the modern approximation of pi (3.141592).

• Based on Shulba Sutras’s observations (India, 600 BC), π ≈ 3.088.

Rhind Papyrus

Discovery of PiArchimedes of Syracuse (287-212 B.C.) was the first person who tried to rigorously calculate the value of pi.

“He drew two polygons around the circle's center - one outside the circle so its perimeter was greater than the circle's, andone inside the circle so its perimeter was less than the circle's.” ("Archimedes Traps Pi." Archimedes Traps Pi. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.)

Discovery of Pi• Plato (427-348 B.C.) obtained the accurate value for pi: √2 +

√3 = 3.146.

• Isaac Newton calculated pi to at least 16 decimal points.

• William Jones (1675-1749) introduced the symbol "π" in 1706, and it was later made famous by Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) in 1737.

Pi’s impact

• We can find dimensions (circumference, radius, diameter, area) of circles by using Pi.

• Pi is used in finding solutions of trigonometrical equations.

• Pi is used in different equations: 1)Volume, area, surface area and circumference of a sphere, cylinder and cone

2)Physics equations, such as: V= T=2π√

Pi’s Impact• Egyptians used pi to build their pyramids. “The vertical height of the

pyramid has the same relationship to the perimeter of its base as the radius of a circle has to its circumference”. ("50 Interesting Facts About Pi." 50 Interesting Facts About... N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.)

• In the twentieth century, pi has been used in many areas, such as number theory, probability, and chaos theory.

• Pi is used by NASA to calculate the trajectories of spacecrafts, to determine the sizes of craters and dimensions of planets outside our solar system.

Interesting Facts about Pi

• “If you were to print 1 billion decimal values of pi in ordinary font it would stretch from New York City to Kansas.” ("28 Facts about Pi That You Probably Didn't Know." Network World. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014)

• Thirty nine decimal points of pi are enough to calculate circumferences that surround most known space objects in the universe with an error not more than the radius of hydrogen's atom.

• March 14 is “Pi Day”. This day was chosen because it resembles 3.14. Usually celebrations begin at 1:59 p.m., so the day and time match 3.14159. It’s interesting to note that Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day (3/14/1879).

Pi is everywhere! • The main character in the novel (and 2012 film) “Life of

Pi” goes by Pi.

• Several other movies reference pi:

Torn Curtain (1966)- Alfred Hitchcock

The Net (1995)- Irwin Winkler

Pi (1998) - Darren Aronofsky

Pi is everywhere!A circular room in the Palais de la Découverte science museum in Paris is called the pi room. The room has 707 digits of pi on its wall.

Sources

• "Pi." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi

• "28 Facts about Pi That You Probably Didn't Know." Network World. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014 http://www.networkworld.com/article/2164391/data-center/28-facts-about-pi-that-you-probably-didn-t-know.html

• "Chronology of Computation of π.Wikimedia Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_computation_of_%CF%80

• "A Brief History of Pi." TechHive. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. http://www.techhive.com/article/191389/a-brief-history-of-pi.html

• "50 Interesting Facts About Pi." 50 Interesting Facts About... N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/07/03_pi.html

• "Archimedes Traps Pi." Archimedes Traps Pi. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. http://physics.weber.edu/carroll/archimedes/pi.htm

Picture citations• http://rickmanhchs.wordpress.com/2012/09/

• http://pronouncemath.blogspot.com/2013/04/archimedes-of-syracuse-pronunciation.html

• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archimedes_pi.svg

• http://aladyinfrance.com/palais-de-la-decouverte/

• http://www.imdb.com/media/rm763276032/tt0454876?ref_=tt_ov_i#

• http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3120727552/tt0061107?ref_=tt_ov_i

• http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2485114112/tt0138704?ref_=tt_ov_i

• http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1351522560/tt0113957?ref_=tt_ov_i

• http://www.historytoday.com/patricia-rothman/william-jones-and-his-circle-man-who-invented-pi

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhind_Mathematical_Papyrus

• http://www.mi2f.com/m/numbers/images/pi.gif

• http://science.taskermilward.org.uk/mod1/Year%204/Mars%20Craters.htm

• http://www.ru.mdz-moskau.eu/%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BC-%D1%83%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8B%D1%85/leonhard_euler_2/

• http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg

• http://www.37wonders.ru/egipetskie_piramidy.html