3.1416

I have a question in current understanding why was the number 3.1415 highly important in ancient calculations and overland distance values that are based upon progressions of such numbers.*
From Newgrange in ireland Ziggurats to Pyramids its a number that seems to crop up all over the place.

just wondering

a reply to: DpatC

3.1415..... is the ratio described as pi. It is a fundemental number when performing any geometrical calculations. Math has been around for a long time my friend. Since long before any written accounts that are still available to us.

If the builders used a wheel of some sort to lay out the dimensions of the construction they were undertaking then yes, Pi (3.1416) will be showing up all over the place when analysing the finished job.

a reply to: DpatC

It was a question that many kids were able to answer 40-50 years ago to ten points after the decimal place some kids would remember 20 + , Now young people cannot tune a radio in or use a ruler

I still remember it as - 3.1415927

I actually had it memorized out to 20 or so places behind the decimal at one point, but the reason I remember this number sequence best is because that's how many digits fit on my very first calculator.

a reply to: DpatC

It's the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter.

Go HERE to learn more about Pi.

a reply to: DpatC

Pi is not 3.1416, 3.1415, or even 3.1415927 as FCD remembers it. Pi has no solution; it is a number that never repeats or ends after the decimal point. We have to approximate it because of this, if we want to get real numbers. It is defined as a physical constant: the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The more accurate our measurements get, the more evidence we have that it can never be stated exactly in our base 10 number system.

If one were to take a perfect wheel of exactly 1 unit in diameter (does not matter what that unit is; it can be an inch, a centimeter, a foot, a meter, a yard, or a mile) and measure the distance around it exactly, it would be pi units. That's all pi is: just a number that we can't seem to get exactly. We use pi in calculations because we can then use the calculations to get the accuracy we want just by putting in a more accurate number for pi. For example, if I know the tire on my car is 2 feet in diameter, I can multiply that by pi to find out how far my car will go every revolution of the wheel. I might be good with using 3.14 and get the needed accuracy, or I might need to be more accurate and use 3.1416, or even 3.1415927. Heck, I sometimes do rough calcs in my head using pi=3... kinda inaccurate, but I can make it more accurate when I get to a calculator.

Wheels have been used all across the planet, being one of the earliest discoveries, so pi appears all across the world in various ways. That's really all there is to it. There's nothing mysterious or earth-shaking about pi. Sometimes it is just easier to measure something as "37 revolutions of this wheel."

TheRedneck

The question should be why does someone not know what PI is.

a reply to: DpatC

Pi is an imperfect human formula.

Any circle has a definite circumference. The diameter of a circle has no real relationship to its circumference in terms of accuracy. Humans just discovered that roughly 3.14 will give an approximate size, but it is not the true size.

The true size of a circle is measurable. We could use a compass and measure the distance it travels around the circumference and that would give us an entirely accurate measurement which would be slightly different to the rough Pi estimate that is only an approximation and guesswork.

Absolutely nothing mystical about it. It is just an inaccurate formula that is useful at guessing roughly what circumference a circular object might be by the easy measurement of diameter.

There is actually no true accuracy because our eyes can only see so much. Even machines can only see so much. A 100 cm circle will be slightly more or slightly less even by a molecule's or atom's size. It is only useful in the human perception of dimension.

Human measuring systems are totally flawed. We can't have a third of anything in numbers if not mutliples of the number 3. Yet in reality we can have a third, that is something being split into equal thirds. The .33 comes into play and in terms of numbers it is rendered infinite. There are severe limits and restrictions. No numerical system for anything that humans have come up with is perfect. That is because the natural world can't be summed by us. There are limits to our perception any way we try. Even the years keep changing in nature, very slightly, but never the same. Look how many different calendar systems we have used and none quite fit.

I like PI. Especially blueberry.

a reply to: Malak777

Can you explain why the many correlations then, between Pi, Fibonacci, and Sacred Geometry?
For something imperfect, it seems quite important.
IMO.

a reply to: DpatC

At the hight of their civilization the Egyptians were using 4 places after the decimal point and writing on parer and clay , the Mayans were going to 29 places after the decimal point and writing on gold leafs

a reply to: TheRedneck

Weeeelllllll, you know what I meant!

Back in the days when I was studying elec engineering all calculations were performed on an engineering slide rule (yes I'm that old ) that had Pi marked on the scale. The earliest pocket calculators didn't do much more than the most basic maths IE no Pi, Sqrt, trig, exponent, factorial etc functions so I worked out which 2 integers would give me a close approximation of Pi.
Turned out to be 355/113 which is good to 6 decimal places
355/113=3.14159292
Pi =3.141592654

The Faber Castell 2/83N slide rule has been in its box ever since
But I could do polar/cartesian conversions faster on the slide rule (precision does suffer a bit though)

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk



Yeah, I know. You meant you're a masochist. 6 decimal places?



TheRedneck

a reply to: Pilgrum

I fondly remember the slide rules myself. haven't seen it in a while, but I should still have mine somewhere here.

I also have my first calculator: the original TI-30. It still works. Ask for a trig function and the display spins around for a minute while it calculates.

TheRedneck