I've been curious about Pi and its importance to the physical world and mathermatics. I watch the movie Pi last year and found it interesting but I was left confused, and unsatiated.
2006-06-08 02:36:08 · 11 answers · asked by Morpheus 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
First of all, the movie PI has almost nothing to do with the mathematical PI. It was a movie based on mysticism with very little basis in fact.
The number Pi is defined as the distance around a circle divided by the distance across the circle. It turns out that this ratio is the same for all circles and is approximately 3.141592653589793..
There are several approximations to pi that are commonly used, including 22/7 (which is good to two decimal places) and 355/113 (which is good to six). However, pi itself cannot be written exactly as a ratio of two whole numbers (that is to say that pi is irrational). Even more so, it cannot be a root of a polynomial expression with whole number coefficients (pi is transcendental).
There are computer programs that will compute large numbers of digits of pi (they never form a repeating pattern) and at the current time, about 1 trillion digits have been computed. This type of computation is mostly used for evaluating computer hardware and has little mathematical value. It is not known if the digits of pi are random (i.e. that pi is a normal number), but that is the best guess.
Mathematically, pi comes up whenever circles or spheres arise, but it also appears in many other situations both mathematically and physically.
2006-06-08 04:21:45 · answer #1 · answered by mathematician 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Pi is simply the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it's diameter. That's it, nothing more.
What makes it special is that the ratio is always the same (3.14.......) no matter how big or small the circle. Since early mathematicians thought circles and spheres were "perfect" shapes, Pi has always had a bit of a mystical quality given to it.
It's one of the few non-repeating irrational numbers -- it's value has been calculated out to several hundred thousand decimal places, and the sequence of numbers never repeats, and goes on forever.
Pi is a useful number in trigonometry, where you can use it to calculate angles, areas of circles and circle segments, sinusoidal wave patterns, etc.
2006-06-08 02:42:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pi is how many times you can rap the diamaeter (across the circle) around the circumfrence (the outside of the circle) and the shortes version for pi is 3.14 and pi goes on forever it has no end and it does not repeat they are still trying to find the end, it has benn calculated so far to one hundered billion places, that mean 100 billion numbers are in pi so far.
2006-06-08 02:41:40 · answer #3 · answered by Pandora Tommorow 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pi is the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference. In other words, if a circle has a diameter of 1 unit, it will always be pi units around. If it's 2 units in diameter, it'll be 2pi units around. This ratio holds for absolutely any circle you can draw. Neat, huh?
2006-06-08 02:40:43 · answer #4 · answered by ACDixon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pi is the ration of the circumference of the circle to its diameter. So pi = C / d. It is approximately equal to 3.1415926.... It is an unterminating unrepeating decimal. It is important when dealing with circles. Therefore, it is important in courses like engineering.
2006-06-08 02:41:54 · answer #5 · answered by norseman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter of a circle. Most often approximated as "3.14"
Pi = circumference / diameter
2006-06-08 02:41:00 · answer #6 · answered by azphriend 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pi is simply defined as the Circumfrance of a Circle over it's Diameter.
Pi is has also been found in Probability, nature, and a lot of other elements.
2006-06-08 02:40:30 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
pi is the constant derived by dividing the Circumference of the circle by its diameter.Its value has been found to be a constant:
The value of pi= 3.1416
pi is used for calculating the area of circle,its volume and other dimensions.if we know the diameter and area,we can find circumference.
Pi is used in practical applications of finding size of earth ,sun and other spherical items.
2006-06-08 02:45:29 · answer #8 · answered by mukunth 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the symbol π denoting the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter b : the ratio itself : a transcendental number having a value to eight decimal places of 3.1415926
2006-06-08 02:40:57 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
pi is used to solve circles
2006-06-08 03:54:56 · answer #10 · answered by gari 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋