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111 Years Ago, Indiana Almost Legislated Pi

Posted by kdawson on from the squaring-the-circle dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "On February 5, 1897, 111 years ago today, the Indiana legislature very nearly passed a bill 'introducing a new mathematical truth,' that would have erroneously established pi as the ratio 'five-fourths to four' or 3.2. The story explaining the rationale behind the bill and how they were prevented from legislating it when a real mathematician intervened is quite interesting, because the man who discovered the 'new mathematical truth' wanted to charge royalties, which could have made pi the first form of irrational property."

4 of 379 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Blashphemy ! by arotenbe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Then again, maybe I'll patent 22/7 as a good way to approximate pi. The scary thing is that you could probably actually get the patent with 339/108.
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    Tomato wedge sperm darts that are Republican.
  2. Re:Blashphemy ! by frup · · Score: 5, Interesting

    thats because pi to 4 decimals is 666/212 so therefore anything close real pi is of course the devils work. (I can't believe I just stumbled on something more accurate than 22/7 by accident while trying to make a real lame joke)

  3. Re:Blashphemy ! by Maddog+Batty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you want a good approximation to pi then try 355/113. (remember it as 113355)

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    wot no sig
  4. Re:Blashphemy ! by Heian-794 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My personal favorite: 2^9/9^2 almost equals 2*pi.