The Constant Pi (π): History of the Discovery and Application in Mathematics of the Mysterious Number Pi

What is Indian Pi Number? This article will give you everything you need to know about pi in mathematics .

In short, pi—written with the Greek letter p, or π—is the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter. No matter the size of the circle, this ratio will always equal pi. In decimal form, pi is approximately 3.14. But pi is an irrational number, meaning that its decimal form neither ends (like 1/4 = 0.25) nor does it become repetitive (like 1/6 = 0.166666.). (With just 18 decimal places, pi is 3.141592653589793238.) So it's useful to write this circumference-to-diameter ratio in shorthand. According to Petr Beckmann's History of Pi, the Greek letter π was first used for this purpose by William Jones in 1706, possibly as an abbreviation for periphery, and became the standard mathematical symbol about 30 years later.

The importance of pi has been recognized for at least 4,000 years. The History of Pi notes that by 2000 BC, "the Babylonians and Egyptians (at least) were aware of the existence and significance of the constant π", recognizing that every circle has the same circumference-to-diameter ratio. Both the Babylonians and the Egyptians had approximations of pi's value, and later mathematicians in ancient Greece, notably Archimedes, improved upon those approximations. By the early 20th century, about 500 digits of pi were known. With advances in computing, thanks to computers, we now know more than the first six billion digits of pi.

Until today, through many generations, many extraordinary minds have tried to calculate the exact value of pi but they can only calculate an approximate number. And the truth is that no matter how we calculate, we can only get close to it but never 'touch' it.

The video below will help us understand more about the magical and mysterious number pi.

Kareem Winters

Update 09 December 2024