05 February 2008

Today in infamy - Life of Π edition

On this date in 1897 the Indiana State legislature almost introduced a "new mathematical truth" but defined the exact value of Π as 3.2. The act passed the House unanimously but someone with some sense* intervened before the world went out of round.

For you Hoosiers out there these are the first 50 decimal positions of the infinite, irrational number: 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510

* Mathematics professor C.A. Waldo of Purdue University

No comments: