I know that some people who are very good at math aren't necessarily the best spellers, but they are college educated too! Otherwise, they would be unfit to teach me!
(I don't have to worry about math lectures anymore, but it's just something I've always wondered about.)
2006-07-14 05:37:13 · 22 answers · asked by aanstalokaniskiodov_nikolai 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Math professors are so underpaid that they have to eat 1/3 of the pie for sustenance before they even write it on the board.
2006-07-14 05:47:09 · answer #1 · answered by MeteoMike 2 · 8⤊ 4⤋
It's just an example how the effort to cover up a minor mistake builds and builds until the cover up dwarfs the original mistake.
Pie is actually equal to 8.53973422267.
Do to a slight miscalculation, a math professor accidently calculated pie to be 3.14159265359.
Fortunately, he noticed that if he divided the actual value of pie by e, his calculation would be right on the mark. He dropped the 'e' from pie and, alas, this whole pi thing has just gotten bigger and bigger ever since.
2006-07-14 11:14:26 · answer #2 · answered by Bob G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pie is something you eat, like apple pie.
Pi, is something you study, and is a mathematical function.
Our English language, it is very far from perfect and I will give a short example
A person from Poland is called polish
you shine your leather shoes with polish
they sound totally different phonetically but are spelled exactly the same how stupid were the people who invented this language thing anyway?
however shoe polish should be spelled palish, go figure
mathematics is also very imperfect and based on ten because we have 10 digits in total on two hands, but this is what we work with until you discover a better format which will explain the function of everything.
I myself am a man with manly parts, and have digits on my feet also, who is to say that mathematical function should not be based upon 21?
When ever we find a better way of doing something, and it is accepted by our society, then at that time it becomes the standard way of doing things.
I suggest you get busy our world needs your help! :)
2006-07-14 06:16:49 · answer #3 · answered by Thoughtfull 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pi is the Anglicized phoenetic spelling of a latin (or was it Greek?) letter as used in mathematical calculations. Hmm, guess it was greek. Here's the reference from thefreedictionary / wikipedia.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/pi
The preferred spelling of the Greek letter in print when the Greek letter itself is not available for typesetting is 'Pi.' Just like Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Omega, Rho, Sigma, Zeta, Kappa, Phi, etc. etc.
They're just phoenetic representations of the Anglicized (English-ized) pronunciation of the Greek alphabet (alphabet is taken from combining the two first letters of the greek language Alpha and Beta, but I'm sure you knew that).
P.S. Your question was REALLY ambiguous, hence the variety of answers received.
Are you stating that they misspell the food known as pie by spelling it Pi? Or are you saying that they're misspelling the greek letter Pi (which is used in math as a reference to the ration between a circle's diameter and its circumference) as "pie." Or are you saying you think that the greek letter should be spelled "pie" and wondering why it's spelled "Pi?" (I was answering the latter question. As to the former questions. If they're spelling the food as Pi instead of Pie maybe they're trying to make a clever mathematical joke that's going over your head? If they're in lectures and spelling the greek letter Pi as "pie" maybe they're just not very well educated and should have attended a few more English, and math classes.)
Please be more specific in your question to get a more specific answer.
2006-07-14 05:51:23 · answer #4 · answered by Michael Gmirkin 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pie is a dessert.
The Greek letter lower case pi (π) is a symbol for the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
2006-07-14 05:59:19 · answer #5 · answered by blahb31 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK, some other people's answers really bothered me because I cannot believe how uneducated or plain stupid some people can be. First of all, in math, pi is a number 3.1415....or ratio involving the diameter and circumference of a circle.(distance across and distance around)
2006-07-14 08:17:15 · answer #6 · answered by TLYNN23 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Iv'e never seen anyone spell it like "pie"....that's rather odd.
π is of course spelled "pi" and pronounced like "pie" in math and science classes. The correct greek pronunciation is "p" , or "pee" (just the letter p)
2006-07-14 06:04:11 · answer #7 · answered by idiuss 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
PI is the correct spelling of the calculation in math.
2006-07-14 05:40:59 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
"pie" is of course the Greek letter "pi" and pronounced "p" as in the letter "p". The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter was given the letter pi because p is the first letter in "perimeter".
2006-07-14 09:59:55 · answer #9 · answered by Kyrix 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
surely no. I picked up on the very shown truth that i became spelling it incorrect a lengthy time period in the past considering Firefox shows you once you've misspelled words, so I seize myself now when I kind it incorrect. i imagine i have made the habit now fortunately, to spell it write.
2016-10-14 11:18:08 · answer #10 · answered by jackson 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why would a math professor be spelling "pie" for you any way?
2006-07-14 07:43:51 · answer #11 · answered by pizzagirl 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋