The History of Pi
The History of Pi The History of Pi Most individuals who have a general mathematical education that touches on the basics of geometry commonly know pi. The definition of pi is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of the circle (Smoller, 2001). The majority of the population, however, does not realize the history associated with the symbol, which not only spans throughout the centuries but throughout the millenniums. The Babylonians, Egyptians, Archimedes of Syracuse, Leonardo of Pisa, Francois Viete, Leonhard Euler, Asian mathematicians such as Liu Hiu, Tsu Ch’ung-Chih, Arya Bhatta, Gottfried Leibniz, Isaac Newton, William Jones, John Machin. George Buffon and Srinivasa Ramanujan, have all played a role in the enriched past of this important mathematical symbol. The ancient Babylonians dates back to the 18th century BCE and reigned in Mesopotamia. The Babylonia, even though it declined drastically in the 17th century, existed until 539 when the Persians consumed Babylonia (Kjeilen, 2009). During this time, they made magnificentstructures with archways that held religious emphasis. The Babylonians used a developed mathematical system, which included six as the root number as opposed to 10 which are commonly used today (Kjeilen, 2009). Even though the Babylonians has a variation on their mathematical system, they calculated the area of a circle by taking three times the square of its radius. One old Babylonian tablet, from Babylonia’s more prosperous era, indicated that they had a value of pi, which was 3.125 (Smoller, 2001). Egyptians are renowned for their architectural skills including works such as the pyramids, obelisks, or even the sphinx. Without their mathematical prowess, the Egyptians would be unable to create such marvels. The Rhind Papyrus gives modern mathematicians a glimpse into the technique used to solve problems. The Rhind Papyrus received its name fromAlexander Henry Rhind (1833-1863) who was both a Scottish lawyer as well
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