History of Pi

The History of p : 

The History of p What is p? When do we use it? How can we calculate p?

What is p? : 

What is p?

Early Calculations of p : 

Early Calculations of p Egyptians (1650 BC)   p ˜3.16  Bible (950 BC)   p ˜3 Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC)

Other Approximations of p : 

Other Approximations of p James Gregory (1638 – 1675) Gottfried Leibniz (1646 – 1716) John Machin(1680 – 1751) William Shanks (1812 – 1882)  707 decimal places Computers (1949)   2000 decimal places

The Symbol : 

The Symbol William Jones – 1707 – adopted the symbol p since it was the first letter for the Greek word for “perimeter” Euler used p in his works and it became standard

References : 

References Benjamin, A. (2007). The Joy of Mathematics: The Joy of Pi. Chantilly, Virginia: The Teaching Company. Smoller, Laura. (2001). The History of Pi. Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://www.ualr.edu/lasmoller/pi.html Wilson, David. (2000). The History of Pi. Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~cherlin/History/Papers2000/wilson.html William Shanks. Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Shanks.html