where did Pi get its name from?

Answer 1

π IN VARIOUS ANCIENT CULTURES

That the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle is the same for all circles, and that it is slightly more than 3, was known to ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian and Greek geometers. The Indians and Greeks also knew that the area of a circle is πr^2, where r is the radius.

Archimedes showed that the volume of a sphere is (4/3)πr^3, where r is the radius, and that the surface area of a sphere is 4πr^2, i.e., 4 times the area of the circle with the same radius.

The Egyptian scribe Ahmes of the Second Intermediate Period (1800-1550 BC) wrote the oldest known text to give an approximate value for π, citing a Middle Kingdom papyrus (c. 2000 BC), corresponding to a value of 256 divided by 81 or 3.160.

As early as the 19th century BC, Babylonian mathematicians were using π = 25/8, which is within 0.53% of the exact value.

THE GREEKS DID NOT NAME IT

Although the number has been known about for nigh on four millennia, it was only 300 years ago that it was given the name pi. We should not infer from it being derived from the ancient Greek alphabet, and from the mathematicians of ancient Greece (Euclid's Elements etc) having studied the properties of circles, that the name was decided on in Hellenic times. It wasn't.

The symbol "π" for Archimedes' constant was first introduced in 1706 by the Welshman Sir William Jones when he published A New Introduction to Mathematics, although the same symbol had been used earlier to indicate the circumference of a circle. The notation became standard after it was adopted by Leonhard Euler. In either case, 'π' is the first letter of περιφέρεια (periphereia, the Greek word for periphery) or περίμετρον (perimetron), meaning 'measure around' in Greek.

Sir William Jones (1675 – 3 July 1749) was born in the village of Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd, on the Isle of Anglesey.

Jones served at sea, teaching mathematics on board ship between 1695 and 1702. After his voyages were over he became a mathematics teacher in London. He also held a number of posts in government offices.

As a mathematician, his most noted contribution is his proposal for the use of the symbol π (the Greek letter pi) to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. He became a close friend of Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Edmund Halley. In 1712, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was later its Vice-President.

So now you know!

Answer 2

Around 200 BC, Archimedes of Syracuse found that pi is somewhere about 3.14 (in fractions; Greeks did not have decimals). Pi (which is a letter in the Greek alphabet) was discovered by a Greek mathematician named Archimedes. Archimedes wrote a book called The Measurement of a Circle. In the book he states that Pi is a number between 3 10/71 and 3 1/7. He figured this out by taking a polygon with 96 sides and inscribing a circle inside the polygon. That was Archemedes' concept of Pi.

Answer 3

It is the Greek letter pi, which modern Greeks pronounce "pee", just like we pronounce our p. But in math we need to say "pie" to avoid confusion with p, which could be a variable. But what I wondered about is, why use a p to denote the ratio between the circumference to the diameter?

Wikipedia has an answer. The P stands for "peripheria", meaning periphery, or the outside of an area, such as a circle. To me that sounds reasonable.

Answer 4

PI is a greek letter in its form back before they even knew the english alhpabet

Answer 5

It is a letter in the Greek alphabet. Since it was the first letter in the Greek word for perimeter and pi is computed by using the perimeter or circumference of a circle, the letter pi was adopted for the constant by a mathematician.

Answer 6

Just a Greek letter. Don't know much.

Answer 7

π is a Greek letter. It is the first letter in the Greek word for perimeter.

Answer 8

It's from the greek alphabet

Answer 9

Well... i know it came from greek people...but why they named it...idunno.
maybe two guys were sitting down, eating some pie and one of them thought about it but the other suggested to drop the "E" ..??

Answer 10

It's part of the greek alphabet.