# The history of the computation of pi

History of Mathematics Rutgers, Spring Throughout the history of mathematics, one of the most enduring challenges has been the calculation of the ratio between a circle's circumference and diameter, which has come to be known by the Greek letter pi. From ancient Babylonia to the Middle Ages in Europe to the present day of supercomputers, mathematicians have been striving to calculate the mysterious number. They have searched for exact fractions, formulas, and, more recently, patterns in the long string of numbers starting with 3. Schaaf once said, "Probably no symbol in mathematics has evoked as much mystery, romanticism, misconception and human interest as the number pi" Blatner, 1.

Ancient Civilizations Babylonian By the 17th century B. This is pretty good, considering they were counting on their fingers — one theory for the development of Babylonian mathematics, which worked on a base 60 numeric system, was that they used the 12 knuckles of the fingers not counting the thumb multiplied by the five fingers of the other hand.

Egyptian Contemporaneous with the Babylonians, the Egyptians were also making great strides with mathematics, and are believed to have developed the first full-fledged base 10 number system. Not terribly precise, but also not bad, considering they had only emerged from the wilderness a few centuries before.

Greek The Greeks greatly advanced the study of mathematics, and particularly the field of geometry. One of their earliest quests, dating back to at least the 5th century B. Although many tried, none were quite able to accomplish the feat, although the reason why was not explained for another years.

In any event, by the 3rd century B. Chinese Dating back to B. Two-hundred years later, Zu Chongzhi calculated to six decimal places, and demonstrated the following: Middle Ages Persian Working in the 9th century A.

## Various Formulas for Computing Pi

Several hundred years later, in the 15th century A. Pi transcends the power of algebra to display it in its totality. This must have been the case with Indiana amateur mathematician Edwin J.The Life of Pi History and Computation Jonathan M.

Pi: The Next Generation: A Sourcebook on the Recent History of Pi and Its Computation - Kindle edition by David H. Bailey, Jonathan M. Borwein. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Pi: The Next Generation: A Sourcebook on the Recent 5/5(1). Pi: The Next Generation A Sourcebook on the Recent History of Pi and Its Computation. Authors: Bailey, David H., Borwein, Jonathan M. Presents amazing techniques for computing digits of pi as well as high-tech techniques for analyzing pi; Brief synopses precede each contribution containing a summary of its content and a short key word list. The table below is a brief chronology of computed numerical values of, or bounds on, the mathematical constant pi (π). For more detailed explanations for some of these calculations, see Approximations of π. Graph showing how the record precision of numerical approximations to pi measured in decimal places (depicted on a logarithmic scale), evolved in human history. The time before is compressed.

Borwein, FRSC Prepared for AUSTRALIAN COLLOQUIA June July 17, Canada Research Chair & . The History of Pi. David Wilson History of Mathematics Rutgers, Spring Throughout the history of mathematics, one of the most enduring challenges has been the calculation of the ratio between a circle's circumference and diameter, which has come to be known by the Greek letter caninariojana.com ancient Babylonia to the Middle Ages in Europe to the .

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Pi: The Next Generation: A Sourcebook on the Recent History of Pi and Its Computation - Kindle edition by David H. Bailey, Jonathan M. Borwein. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets.

Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Pi: The Next Generation: A Sourcebook on the Recent 5/5(1).

Here’s a brief history of finding pi. The ancient Babylonians calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius, which gave a value of pi = 3.

One Babylonian tablet (ca. – BC) indicates a value of for pi, which is a closer approximation. The table below is a brief chronology of computed numerical values of, or bounds on, the mathematical constant pi (π).

For more detailed explanations for some of these calculations, see Approximations of π. Graph showing how the record precision of numerical approximations to pi measured in decimal places (depicted on a logarithmic scale), evolved in human history.

The time before is compressed.

## $\pi$ and its computation through the ages

The History of Pi. David Wilson History of Mathematics Rutgers, Spring Throughout the history of mathematics, one of the most enduring challenges has been the calculation of the ratio between a circle's circumference and diameter, which has come to be known by the Greek letter pi.

From ancient Babylonia to the Middle Ages in Europe to the present day of supercomputers, mathematicians have been .

Approximations of π - Wikipedia