Archimedes' Method of Estimating Pi
Date: 5/29/96 at 21:24:35
From: Larry Sherman
Subject: Archimedes' method of estimating pi - ?
Tell me about Archimedes' method for estimating pi using inscribed and
circumscribed polygons about a circle.
Thanks,
Corinna
Date: 5/30/96 at 14:38:30
From: Doctor Darrin
Subject: Re: Archimedes' method of estimating pi - ?
Archimedes knew that the area of a circle was pi * r^2. He estimated
the value of pi by estimating the area of a circle with radius 1 (and
area pi).
To do this, he would calculate the area of a regular polygon inscribed
in the circle. Since the polygon would be entirely contained in the
circle, it would have an area less than the area of the circle. For
instance, if we inscribed a regular hexagon in a circle of radius 1,
we could divide the hexagon into 6 equilateral triangles, each having
sides of length one. The area of the triangles would then be about
.433, so the area of the hexagon is 6*.433=2.60. Thus, we see that pi
is greater than 2.6.
If we circumscribe a hexagon around a circle, then we can divide it
into six equilateral triangles each having area .577, so the hexagon
has area 3.46. Since the circle is inside the hexagon, it has area
less than 3.46, so we see that pi is less than 3.46.
Archimedes did much better than this - he used regular polygons with
96 sides, and found that pi is between 3+(10/71) and 3+(1/7).
I hope this helps.
-Doctor Darrin, The Math Forum
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