7 ms·

The Man Who Invented Pi (2009)

40 points by Hooke 8y ago

sundars 8y ago
Pi in ancient india https://souravroy.com/2011/01/07/pi-in-indian-mathematics/ https://souravroy.com/2011/01/07/pi-in-indian-mathematics/
- SoulMan 8y ago
  It's sad that some Indians leaders and followers ignore these achievement and just try to claim they had hi-tech internet in ancient days .https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/india-ancient-internet/558725/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/india...
- NikkiA 8y ago
  > They didn’t call it Pi though. Which goes against the whole article anyway, since Jones didn't invent, or claim to invent, the concept of Pi either, that'd be a 3-way shootout between ancient indians, chinese or egyptians, Jones just assigned it the name Pi.
alberto_ol 8y ago
He was the father of the philologist William Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist)
- honoredb 8y ago
  ...who invented PIE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language
adamnemecek 8y ago
I'm still partial to tau. https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto
- lordnacho 8y ago
  Half of me thinks that too
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
tinza123 8y ago
Also found by ancient Chinese Zu Chongzhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zu_Chongzhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zu_Chongzhi
- chasingthewind 8y ago
  If your post is intended to combat the tendency for westerners to constantly repeat stories about western contributions to science and culture and to minimize or ignore the contributions of other cultures then I'd agree but I think your post doesn't really get that across. The article seems to be making the assertion that William Jones was the first person to use the Greek Letter "Pi" to represent Pi the transcendental number and the first to suggest Pi was unable to be "expressed in numbers." So in that sense the claim is that Jones invented the association of "Pi" to Pi...the association of the Greek letter to the number itself. The article really isn't talking about finding approximations for pi so neither Zu Chongzhi nor Archimedes or any other older mathematicians finding approximations are really relevant here. [0] Frankly its not even a particularly interesting piece of history in my opinion. A curiosity but nothing more. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi#Antiquity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi#Antiquity
  - tinza123 8y ago
    Fair enough, thanks for the references. My previous comment was merely intended to be anecdotal, not trying to invoke arguments :)
Jun8 8y ago
If you're interested in the mathematical development of Pi the book A History of Pi is a must read: https://www.amazon.com/History-Pi-Petr-Beckmann/dp/0312381859 https://www.amazon.com/History-Pi-Petr-Beckmann/dp/031238185...

40 points by Hooke 8y ago

Pi in ancient india https://souravroy.com/2011/01/07/pi-in-indian-mathematics/ https://souravroy.com/2011/01/07/pi-in-indian-mathematics/

SoulMan 8y ago
It's sad that some Indians leaders and followers ignore these achievement and just try to claim they had hi-tech internet in ancient days .https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/india-ancient-internet/558725/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/india...
NikkiA 8y ago
> They didn’t call it Pi though. Which goes against the whole article anyway, since Jones didn't invent, or claim to invent, the concept of Pi either, that'd be a 3-way shootout between ancient indians, chinese or egyptians, Jones just assigned it the name Pi.

alberto_ol 8y ago

He was the father of the philologist William Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist)

honoredb 8y ago
...who invented PIE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language

adamnemecek 8y ago

I'm still partial to tau. https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto https://tauday.com/tau-manifesto

lordnacho 8y ago
Half of me thinks that too

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

tinza123 8y ago

Also found by ancient Chinese Zu Chongzhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zu_Chongzhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zu_Chongzhi

chasingthewind 8y ago
If your post is intended to combat the tendency for westerners to constantly repeat stories about western contributions to science and culture and to minimize or ignore the contributions of other cultures then I'd agree but I think your post doesn't really get that across. The article seems to be making the assertion that William Jones was the first person to use the Greek Letter "Pi" to represent Pi the transcendental number and the first to suggest Pi was unable to be "expressed in numbers." So in that sense the claim is that Jones invented the association of "Pi" to Pi...the association of the Greek letter to the number itself. The article really isn't talking about finding approximations for pi so neither Zu Chongzhi nor Archimedes or any other older mathematicians finding approximations are really relevant here. [0] Frankly its not even a particularly interesting piece of history in my opinion. A curiosity but nothing more. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi#Antiquity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi#Antiquity
- tinza123 8y ago
  Fair enough, thanks for the references. My previous comment was merely intended to be anecdotal, not trying to invoke arguments :)

Jun8 8y ago

If you're interested in the mathematical development of Pi the book A History of Pi is a must read: https://www.amazon.com/History-Pi-Petr-Beckmann/dp/0312381859 https://www.amazon.com/History-Pi-Petr-Beckmann/dp/031238185...