Those who take bible literally, what value of Pi do you use in Geometry?

Question

"Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." - 1 Kings 7:23

Now that implies value of Pi to be 3 exactly. Now if you're going to take bible literally, won't this little error mess up large calculations?

For example, in calculating circumference of earth...

The fact is, Earth's circumference is 40008 km approximately.

The diameter is 12,756 km.

NOW, If you go by Biblical value of Pi, if we take it literally...

The formula,

c = d * pi

Hence, c = 12756 * 3

The biblical answer would be = 38268.

Huge difference! Totally incorrect. The actual answer is 40008 km, with minute approximation.

So, would you still like to use bible literally?

Or maybe atleast call it an allegory to avoid the real embarrasment in Math classes.

My question is, Will you take it Literally or NOT?

Answer 1

Great question!!! You put them in a bad position. Notice they won't even answer the question!!! Or maybe they just don't get the point. The bible says it is this, it is not. so the bible is WRONG!!!!! Is that hard to understand. They should just step up and say that the bible is not always right!!

Answer 2

If one considers the measurement of the circumference as that of the bowl(according to the Hebrew the circumference references the molten-sea, to which the brim is merely a part), and the measurement of the diameter as that of the brim attached to the bowl, there is no problem rationalizing a value of pi above three here. The fact that there existed knops under the brim, further supports the idea of a separate larger rim set upon the bowl itself.

Answer 3

Firstly, multiplying by a constant doesn't change accuracy (unless it has less significant digits). So using a large number will only convince idiots that it is a large difference.

Also, you'll notice that the bible doesn't call it pi, they just are giving an approximation.

Also, the word line is not always based on the math word, and plus you might as well say they didnt say "line segment". So you pretty much suck at geometry too.

edit: also, yes, they will be building a temple that is perfectly round. It's not like a distortion will render the value of pi meaningless.

Answer 4

If the Bible is your math textbook, you can throw yourself out a window and make yourself smarter.

If the Bible is your source of eternal life, you might just learn something.

Is everything in the Bible correct according to man? No. Is everything on earth correct according to God? No.

Now use your head for a second and put your bias aside. Would God (infinite in His wisdom) put "and a line of thirty one point four one five blah blah" in the Bible and make it any more useful, or would he say something that would make sense to the intended audience, which was a bunch of people in the desert that probably couldn't whip out their senior year calculus book, complete with Mrs. Hammontree's homework on making a molten sea?

Answer 5

All values of pi in practical terms are approximations. If I said pi was 3.14 - I'd be more accurate than 3, but still not right.

Answer 6

Do you know what a cubit is? They measured out cubits to about the length of a person's forearm. Not all forearms are the same length.

Answer 7

Considering it's talking about measurements for a temple, do you just want to skip the embarrassment that you obviously don't know your a*ss from a hole in the ground, assuming the circumference of that hole is exactly "pi"?

Answer 8

Funny, it also says that a "line" can encompass a circle. I thought lines were straight!

Personally, I use 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510 for the most sensitive calculations.

Answer 9

A math question? Is this your only way of disproving the Bible? You are really reaching!

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Answer 10

I think you found the only other way to make the bible more boring...adding math.