Surely if they ask you for the number Pi, you will quickly recite what you learned in school: that is equivalent to 3'14159 ... Maybe you also remember that it was used to solve certain geometry problems, but in general, little else. In Supercurious we wanted to approach this prodigy of the maths to find out Who discovered the number Pi and What is Pi in Mathematics .
There are those who are unable to see more than difficulties after the numbers and, nevertheless, many people see poetry in mathematics. If you want to know the ideas and thoughts that illustrious characters expressed about mathematics, we recommend you take a look at this selection of Mathematical Phrases , which attest that it is the most universal language. Surely you will be impressed to discover, through them, the beauty that numbers can hide.
Who discovered the Pi number: knows its history
Pi ( π) is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet and was chosen as representative of the most known mathematical constant because is the initial letter of the words of Greek origin "περιφέρεια" (periphery) and "περίμετρον" (perimeter of a circle) . Although it was used for the first time in the seventeenth century, it was the mathematician Leonhard Euleren in his 1748 work, "Introduction to the infinitesimal calculus", the one that popularized it. But what is Pi in mathematics? Who discovered the Pi number, really? Let's find out!
1. What is Pi in mathematics?
The definition tells us that Pi is "the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter". More directly, Pi is equal to the circumference of the circle divided by its diameter (π = c / d) and changing the sense, "the circumference of a circle is equal to Pi times its diameter" (c = πd). Whether the circle is large or small, Pi will always be the same number: 3'14159 ...
Mathematically, Pi ( π) is also an irrational number . This means that it is a "real number that can not be expressed by a simple fraction". This occurs because Pi in mathematics is an "infinite decimal"; the digits have no end. It is also a transcendent number , which means that it is a number - real or complex - that is not the root of any polynomial - not null - with integer coefficients.
To know what Pi is in mathematics it is important to know what is a very useful number to solve all those geometric problems in which circles are involved such as, for example, the calculation of the area of a circle or the volume of a cylinder. In the world that surrounds us, the circles are very numerous, which is why the number Pi is used continuously.
2. The story of who discovered the number Pi
If someone asks who discovered the Pi number, surely the answer will be that Archimedes. However, this is not strictly true . The mathematicians of ancient Egypt, India, Babylon and Greece were aware that the ratio between the perimeter and the diameter in the circumferences was a constant with a value slightly higher than 3. Archimedes was the first to estimate the number Pi in one way rigorous
Archimedes was born in Syracuse about 287 BC. and he studied in Alexandria, which was for centuries the center of Western knowledge (as we saw in Supercurioso in the post about Hypatia of Alexandria ). Archimedes, physicist, mathematician, astronomer and engineer, discovered that the magnitude of Pi could be tuned, both above and below , inscribing and circumscribing regular polygons in a circumference, and when calculating the perimeter of these polygons it approached the value of Pi through a polygonal approach. That is why it is considered the answer to who discovered the number Pi. In the 2nd century BC, Ptolemy obtained a value for Pi that was: 3.1416 ... Absolutely correct until the third decimal place.
3. Some curiosities of Pi
- There is a "Pi day". It is March 14, saying, month 3, day 14 . Also curiously coincides with the anniversary of Albert Einstein and with the death of Stephen Hawking .
- There is a Guinness record of reciting Pi digits . He won it, with a bandage over his eyes, the Indian citizen Rajveer Meena who recited 70,000 decimal places of Pi in 2015.
- Today's computers have been able to calculate more than 13 billion digits of Pi . Here you have the first 100 numbers of Pi: 3'14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 7067
- The Great Pyramid of Giza, built between 2550 and 2500 BC, is also related to the number Pi . It has a perimeter of 1760 cubits and a height of 280 cubits, this translates into a ratio of 1760/280, which is approximately 2 times the Pi number.
- In Argentina, if you have to call emergency from a mobile, you must dial * followed by an approximation of the number Pi: * 31416. Here you can discover more curious facts of Argentina .
- The protagonist of the film The life of Pi , adopts that name in honor of the number Pi.
Although Archimedes did not shout his famous Eureka when calculating the Pi number, but upon discovering that "the volume of water that rises is equal to the volume of the submerged body", he could well have done it for it, thanks to the correctness of his estimation. As always, we encourage you to leave us a comment. Tell us, did you know who discovered the Pi number? Do you know other curiosities about the Pi number? If you want to know another "magic" number that is sometimes confused with Pi, we invite you to read this post about Phi, the golden number: Golden Spiral and Golden Number | 15 curiosities of sacred geometry and if you want to meet several women scientists of history, you can the article: Scientific Women | The feminine importance in Science .