Project 4 π - WORLD'S MOST MYSTERIOUS NUMBER

WHAT IS π ?
The symbol π is the 16th letter of Greek alphabets. In the old Greek texts, π
was used to represent the number 80.
Later on, the letter π was chosen by mathematicians to represent a very
important constant value related to a circle. Specifically π was chosen to
represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
c
Symbolically  = , where c represents the circumference and d represents
d
the length of the diameter of the circle. Since the diameter of a circle is
twice the radius, d = 2r, where r is the radius.

c
So,  = .
2r
Where the symbol π in Mathematics came from?
According to the well-known mathematics historian Florian Cajori
(1859-1930), the symbol π was first used in mathematics by William Oughtred
(1575-1660) in 1652 when he referred to the ratio of the circumference of a

circle to its diameter as , where π represented the periphery of a circle and
δ
δ represented the diameter.
In 1706, William Jones (1675-1749) published his book Synopsis
Palmoriorum Matheseos, in which he used π to represent the ratio of the
circumference of a circle to its diameter. This is believed to have been the
first time π was used as it is defined/used today. Among others, Swiss
mathematician Leonhard Euler also began using π to represent the ratio of
circumference of a circle to its diameter.

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 VALUE OF π
It is said that after a wheel was invented, the circumference was probably
measured for the sake of comparison. Perhaps in the early days, it was
important to measure how far a wheel would travel in one revolution. To
measure this distance, it was convenient to measure it by placing the wheel
on the distance being measured showing that its length is slightly more than
three times the diameter.
This type of activity repeated with different wheels showed that each time the
circumference was just a bit more than three times as long as the diameter.

Fig. 1 AB: Circumference of the wheel

This showed that the value of π is slightly more than 3. Frequent measurement
also showed that the part exceeding three times the diameter was very close
1
to of the diameter.
9
In Rhind Papyrus, written by Ahmes-an Egyptian in
about 1650 B.C., it is said to have been mentioned
that if a square is drawn with a side whose length is
eight-ninths of the diameter of the circle, then the
area of the square so formed and the area of circle
would be the same.
2 2
d d
Area of circle =  = Fig. 2
2 4

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 2
8 64 2
Area of square ABCD = d = d
9 81

d 2 64 2 256
So, = d implies  = = 3.1604938271604938271
4 81 81
This gives a reasonably close approximated value of π

ARCHIMEDES CONTRIBUTIONS
Archimedes, born in Syracuse about 287 B.C. gave the following proposition
regarding the circle that had a role in the historical development of the value
of π.
1. The ratio of the area of a circle to that of a square with side equal to the
circle's diameter is close to 11:14.

Fig. 3

π r 2 11
=
4r 2 14

44 22
i.e., π= =
14 7
This is again a familiar approximation of π which we often use in the
problems related to mensuration.

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 1
2. The circumference of a circle is less than 3 times of its diameter but
7
10 10 1
more than 3 times the diameter, i.e., 3 <π< 3 .
71 71 7
Let us see how Archimedes actually arrived
at this conclusion. What he did was to
inscribe a regular polygon (an equilateral
triangle, a square, a regular pentagon, a
regular hexagon etc.) in a given circle [see
Fig. (4)] and also circumscribe the polygon
about the same circle.
In both the cases, the perimeter of the
polygon gets closer and closer to the Fig. 4
circumference of the circle.
He then repeated this process with 12 sided regular polygon, 24 sided
regular polygon, 48 sided regular polygon, 96 sided regular polygon, each
time getting perimeter closer and closer to circumference of the circle.
10
Archimedes finally concluded that the value of π is more than 3 but
71
1
less than 3 . We know that
7

10
3 = 3.14084507042253521126760563380281690
71

1
and 3 = 3.142857
7
Thus, Archimedes gave the value of π which is consistent with what we
know as the value of π today.

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 CHINESE CONTRIBUTIONS
Liu Hui in 263 also used regular polygons with increasing number of sides to
approximate the circle. He used only inscribed circles while Archimedes
used both inscribed and circumscribed circles. Liu's approximation of π was
3927
= 3.1416
1250
Zu Chongzhi (429-500), a Chinese astronomer and mathematician found that
355
= = 3 . 141592920353982300884
113
955752212389380530973
451327433628318584070796
460176991150442477876106
1946902654867256637168

CONTRIBUTION BY OTHERS
1. John Wallis (1616-1703), a professor of mathematics at Cambridge and
Oxford Universities gave the following formula for π :

π 2×2 4×4 6×6 2n × 2n

4 12
= 1+
π 32
2+
52
2+
72
2+
92
2+
2 + ...
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 62832
3. Aryabhata (499) gave the value of π as = 3.14156
20,000

4. Brahmagupta (640) gave the value of π as 10 = 3.162277

1
6. Babylonian used the value of π as 3 + = 3.125
8
7. Yasumasa Kanada and his team at University of Tokyo calculated the value
of π to 1.24 trillion decimal places.
8. French mathematician Francois Viete (1540-1603) calculated π correct
to nine decimal places. He calculated the value of π to be between the
numbers 3.1415926535 and 3.1415926537.

192
9. S. Ramanujan (1887-1920) calculated the value of π as 4 92 + =
22
3.14592652 ... which is correct to eight decimal places.
10. Leonhard Euler came up with an interesting expression for obtaining the
value of π as

2 1 1 1 1 1
= 1– 1– 1– 1– 1– ...,
π 4 16 36 64 100
A π Paradox

Fig. 5

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 In the above figure, perimeter of the semi-circle with diameter
π
AB = (AB)
2
Sum of the perimeters of smallar semi-circles

π a πb π c π d πe π
= + + + + = (a+b+c+d+e)
2 2 2 2 2 2
This may not 'appear' to be true but it is!
Let us now proceed in the following way. Increase the number of smaller
semi-circles along the fixed line segment AB say of 2 units.

Fig. 6 Fig. 7

Fig. 8 Fig. 9

In the above figures, the sum of the lengths of the perimeters of smaller
semicircles "appears" to be approaching the length of the diameter AB
but in fact it is not! because the lengths of the perimeters of the smallar
π ×2
semi-circles is = π while length of AB is 2 units. So, both cannot
2
be the same.

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 CONCLUSION
π can be seen as a number with unusual properties. It has wide variety of
applications in real life.

APPLICATION
Value of π is used in finding areas and perimeters of designs related to circles
and sector of circles. It has applications in the construction of racetracks and
engineering equipments.

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