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The Life of π: From Archimedes to ENIAC and Beyond

Jonathan M. Borwein

A chapter in From Alexandria, Through Baghdad, 2014, pp 531-561 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The desire to understand π, the challenge, and originally the need, to calculate ever more accurate values of π, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, has captured mathematicians— great and less great — for many centuries. And, especially recently, π has provided compelling examples of computational mathematics. π, uniquely in mathematics, is pervasive in popular culture and the popular imagination. In this paper, I intersperse a largely chronological account of π’s mathematical and numerical status with examples of its ubiquity.

Keywords: Continue Fraction; Decimal Digit; Binary Digit; Correct Digit; Digit String (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-36736-6_24

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-36736-6_24

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