Annoying Numbers and Things: Students' Contributions: The History of Pi and Its Approximation (by 9B Maggie Wang)

π is an irrational number whose value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter. Its calculation continues to nowadays from the ancient times.

π was first discovered to begin agriculture and engineering skills since the permanent shelters were needed. In the late Greek period, Euclid (Right --Mr. Ip), a mathematician at the University of Alexandria in Egypt, provided many tools to future mathematicians to attack the π problems by publishing Elements. Archimedes (Lower right --Mr. Ip), who also studied at the University of Alexandria, approximated his value of π to about 22/7, which is still a common value today. After Archimedes was killed in the Roman conquest of Syracuse, the knowledge of π was demolished. It was in the decline of the Middle Ages that its knowledge was regained. Most of the historians believed that the Mayan value of π was more accurate than Europeans since Mayans were the top astronomers and had developed a very accurate calendar. During the Renaissance, π activity in Europe finally began to move again because of the increasing importance of mathematics for use in navigation and the creation of Arabic numerals. François Viète, a French lawyer, found the first formula for π based on an infinite sequence of algebraic operations. Viète also found the value of π to 9 decimal places. In the 1700's the invention of calculus by Sir Isaac Newton and Leibniz rapidly accelerated the calculation and theorization of π. In the late 1700's Lambert (Swiss) and Legendre (French) independently proved that π is irrational. Starting in 1949 with the ENIAC computer, digital systems have been calculating π to incredible accuracy. ENIAC was able to calculate 2,037 digits. Today, the approximation of pi is 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436789259036001133053054882046652138414695194151160943305727036575959195309218611738193261179310511854807446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912983367336244065664308602139494639522473719070217986094370277053921717629317675238467481846766940513200056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872146844090122495343014654958537105079227968925892354201995611212902196086403441815981362977477130996051870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859502445945534690830264252230825334468503526193118817101000313783875288658753320838142061717766914730359825349042875546……