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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:44 am
by hierachy
Good... I'm glad to see none of you thieves stole my image.
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:51 pm
by dennisrwood
A very brief history of pi
Pi is a very old number. We know that the Egyptians and the Babylonians knew about the existence of the constant ratio pi, although they didn't know its value nearly as well as we do today. They had figured out that it was a little bigger than 3; the Babylonians had an approximation of 3 1/8 (3.125), and the Egyptians had a somewhat worse approximation of 4*(8/9)^2 (about 3.160484), which is slightly less accurate and much harder to work with. For more, see A History of Pi by Petr Beckman (Dorset Press).
The modern symbol for pi [] was first used in our modern sense in 1706 by William Jones, who wrote:
There are various other ways of finding the Lengths or Areas of particular Curve Lines, or Planes, which may very much facilitate the Practice; as for instance, in the Circle, the Diameter is to the Circumference as 1 to (16/5 - 4/239) - 1/3(16/5^3 - 4/239^3) + ... = 3.14159... = (see A History of Mathematical Notation by Florian Cajori).
Pi (rather than some other Greek letter like Alpha or Omega) was chosen as the letter to represent the number 3.141592... because the letter [] in Greek, pronounced like our letter 'p', stands for 'perimeter'.
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 1:15 pm
by Revan
Have I truly died to Kevinswatch? Because it seems several of you are channelling my spirit...
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:20 pm
by MsMary
It could be - Jay claimed to be you the other night in chat.
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:31 am
by Revan
AHHHH!!!!! Jay has gone utterly mad!
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:25 am
by Loredoctor
Mr Hierachy wrote:Good... I'm glad to see none of you thieves stole my image.
Actually, I did - until yesterday; it was my signature. I removed it because it stopped showing.
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:25 pm
by ur-bane
I noticed that too.....Mr Hierarchy's avatar stopped showing as well.
But as long as I'm here, can I have some pie too? I would like Isaac Newton's apple pi.
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:40 pm
by hierachy
Loremaster wrote:Mr Hierachy wrote:Good... I'm glad to see none of you thieves stole my image.
Actually, I did - until yesterday; it was my signature. I removed it because it stopped showing.
Careful, or I will be forced to put your avatar on my pentagram.
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:14 pm
by Worm of Despite
Mr Hierachy wrote:Loremaster wrote:Mr Hierachy wrote:Good... I'm glad to see none of you thieves stole my image.
Actually, I did - until yesterday; it was my signature. I removed it because it stopped showing.
Careful, or I will be forced to put your avatar on my pentagram.
Oh man! The greatest honor ever is getting on Hier's Christmas pentagram. Ah, such glory!
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:16 pm
by dANdeLION
I guess this time it would be Hier's Easter pentagram.
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:19 pm
by Worm of Despite
Oo! I got dibs on the upper right corner!
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:25 pm
by dANdeLION
I want the center, or wherever it was I got the first time. Maybe the av can be an Easter Basket motif, with each of The Five being a coloured egg.
Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:02 am
by Loredoctor
Mr Hierachy wrote:Loremaster wrote:Mr Hierachy wrote:Good... I'm glad to see none of you thieves stole my image.
Actually, I did - until yesterday; it was my signature. I removed it because it stopped showing.
Careful, or I will be forced to put your avatar on my pentagram.
]#
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:11 am
by Gil galad
3.1415926535
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:04 pm
by hierachy
ALT+255
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:56 pm
by kevinswatch
You all are defiling the sacredness that is the pi topic.-jay
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:00 pm
by ur-bane
Ahh! So apparently we have all chosen the
Defiles Course.
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:03 pm
by Myste
ur-bane wrote:Ahh! So apparently we have all chosen the
Defiles Course.
ur-bane! Gah!
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:16 pm
by ur-bane
Blame it on my father....I got the Polish from him.
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:29 pm
by Myste
You know I meant my fainting fit in the nicest way possible, don't you? I always faint at puns. Ask danlo!
