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The Bible and Pi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Michael A. B. Deakin  and
Hans Lausch
Michael A. B. Deakin
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia, e-mail: Michael.Deakin@sci.monash.edu.au, e-mail: Hans.Lausch@sci.monash.edu.au
Hans Lausch
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia, e-mail: Michael.Deakin@sci.monash.edu.au, e-mail: Hans.Lausch@sci.monash.edu.au
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Extract

It is widely, almost universally, believed that the Hebrew Bible gives the value of π as the crude approximation 3, a value much less accurate than those adopted by other ancient civilisations, such as the Babylonian, the Egyptian and the Chinese. In the English of the Authorised Version, the biblical source goes:

      ‘And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from one brim to the
      other: it was round all about, and his [i.e. its] height was five
      cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.’

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 82 , Issue 494 , July 1998 , pp. 163 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1998

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References

1. Beiaga, S. E. G. On the rabbinical exegesis of an enhanced biblical value of π , Proc. XVIIth Can. Cong. Hist. Phil. Math., (1991) pp. 93–101.Google Scholar
2. Posamentier, A. S. and Gordan, N. An astounding revelation on the history of π , Math. Teacher 77(1) (1984) pp. 52, 47.Google Scholar
3. Olds, C. D. Continued fractions Yale University Press, New Haven (1963).Google Scholar
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5. Knox, R. A. The authorship of ‘In Memoriam’. In Essays in Satire (2nd edition), Kennikat, Port Washington, NY (1968).Google Scholar