Pi

3.14159265358..

Divide this circle's circumference by its diameter. When you do the calculation: 40.5 divided by 12.89 ......the result is the magic number 3.14, or PI!

WHAT IS PI?
PI or is an irrational number with an approximate value of 3.14159. It has never ending decimals that with no repeating pattern. The is a Greek letter used to represent this number since the mid-18th century. Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. To put it another way, it's the length of the circumference divided by the length of the diameter. Pi always works out to be the same value, no matter what size the circle is.

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

The fact that the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle is constant has been known for so long that it is quite untraceable. The earliest values of have been found in the bible or other biblical writing. In the Egyptian Rhind Papyrus, which is dated about 1650 BC, there is good evidence for 4 (8/9)2 = 3.16 as a value for . The first theoretical calculation seems to have been carried out by Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC). He obtained the approximation 223/71 < < 22/7. Archimedes knew that does not equal 22/7, and made no claim to have discovered the exact value. If we take his best estimate as the average of his two bounds we obtain 3.1418, an error of about 0.0002.

WHY PI?
You might be wondering why was chosen to represent 3.14. The first mathematician to use the Greek letter to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter was William Jones. Jones' first use of the Greek letter was in the phrase "1/2 Periphery ()" in the discussion of a circle with radius one. He may have chosen because it was the first letter in the Greek spelling of the word periphery. After Jones introduced the Greek letter in 1706, it was not adopted by other mathematicians until Leonhard Euler used it in 1736. Before then, mathematicians sometimes used letters such as c or p instead. Because Euler corresponded heavily with other mathematicians in Europe, the use of the Greek letter spread rapidly.

WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

Imagine drawing some circles. Now measure the diameter of each circle, or the distance across the middle, and then each circle's circumference, which is the distance around the outside. Pi is used with circles in the equations concerning circumference and area. d stands for diameter and r stands for radius, which is half of the diameter. Circumference: C=2r or d Area: A=r 2 Pi can be in many other equations, but we have not listed them since they are much more complex.

FUN FACTS
The record held for the most digits of pi calculated (as of September 1999) was by a supercomputer at the University of Tokyo that calculated 206,158,430,000 digits. The record for memorizing digits of , certified by Guinness World Records, is 67,890 digits, recited in China by Lu Chao in 24 hours and 4 minutes on 20 November 2005. Pi Day is an unofficial holiday commemorating the mathematical constant (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14, since 3, 1 and 4 are the three most significant digits of in the decimal form. In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day. On Pi Day people eat pie and discuss the significance of the number .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi http://www.math.com/tables/constants/pi.htm http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/5850 http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Pi_through_the_ages.html