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Three Strange Methods to Calculate Pi
In the USA, Pi Day is March 14. Why? Because that’s 3/14 in our odd date format system and the first three digits of Pi are 3.14…Note: I’m going to use Pi instead of π because it’s easier to type.
Enough about that. Let’s calculate some Pi. I’m going to share some of my favorite methods to get a value of this awesome number. OK, I’m actually going to start with a fairly straightforward way to measure Pi — just for comparison with the other methods and so that I can give a definition of Pi.
What is Pi?
If you take a circle, there are at least two things you could measure. There is the distance around the outside of the circle (the circumference) and there is the distance across the circle through the middle (the diameter).
With a bigger diameter circle, you get a bigger circumference. In fact, these two variables are proportional for ALL circles. The proportionality constant is Pi.
So, of course you could grab a bunch of circles and measure circumference and diameter — boom, there’s your Pi. But now for some other ways to find Pi.
