Who Invented Pi?
From the earliest references about pi, evidence was found that pi has been used for thousands of years. Babylon and Egypt mathematicians had been using pi even during the 19th B. C. The value of pi used by Babylon's mathematicians was 3.125 while the Egyptians used 3.160484 as calculated by Agmes, an Egyptian scholar. He stated that he found the value in a papyrus in Middle Kingdom. An Indian astronomer who was also a mathematician, Aryabhata, who lived during the 5th B. C., calculated the value of pi to be 62832/2000 or 3.1416. He was correct if the value was rounded off to four decimals. However he did not claim he was exactly correct.
On the other hand, in the Eastern countries, a mathematician from China estimated pi to be between 3.1415927 and 3.1415926. Around the 5th century, Zu Chongzhi had come up with two estimations, 355/113 and 22/7. Almost at the same moment, Liu Hui computed the value to be 3.141014. He had believed that Aryabhata and Zu Chongzhi's values should not differ much. He said that 3.14 should be reliable and logical.
Later on, Madhaya from India evaluated the value of pi by changing the power series of pi/1 and using the first 21 figures of the sequence to obtain an estimation of pi. He was correct up to the 11th decimal and when he added a remainder to the sequence of original numbers, he computed a correct value of pi up to 13 decimal places. After 200 years later, Ghyath ad-din Jamshid Ksahani, a Persian astronomer successfully computed Pi correctly up to the ninth digit using the base of 60, equivalent to 16 decimals.
The first usage of pi symbol was used in 1706 by a man named William Jones. To be honest, no one could provide precise answer for who invented pi as there was not any person who accurately created the pi. Those who came up with numerical figures of pi were certainly wrong.
It may sound unbelievable but it is a fact that the Bible did mention about pi. In 1 Kings 7:23, the measurements for a basin have 30 cubit circumference and 10 cubit diameter, stated by the Gospel. According to the Rabbis, this calculation is based on the brim's circumference and the diameter across from the outside. The value computed should be close to 3.14.
Archimedes from Greece is a well-known mathematician behind the story of pi. In his experiment, he came up with the value during his studies the perimeters of a polygon of 96 sides. When he calculated the average of the values, he came up with 3.1419. Hence the closest would be Archimedes' value and thus being named the closest man who invented pi, although it is still unknown how the usage of the constant 22/7 was brought up.
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