D
Dundee
Guest
I have been listening in my car to some Math webinars, Specifically on the History of math and numbers and how such things as Pi and E were derived, Actually quite interesting, but something occurred to me.
Pi is defined as the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter. And Pi is also said to be never ending....
OK, so lets grab a length of string 100mm long and form a perfect circle,
In a physical sense, its length and diameter are clearly defined in front of you, and are most definitly finite.
Take the reverse, if you draw a circle with a diameter of 100mm, multiply it by Pi you get the circumference. But if Pi is never ending then the calculated number for the circumference has to be at best an approximation, and if Pi is endless, then the circles circumference can never be defined accuratly.
Only, the circles circumference as shown in the first example is finite. In that case 100mm.
So, how can Pi be infinite, when the circumference and diameter are clearly not Infinite.
Doesnt this imply that Pi at some point stops and is finite?
Pi is defined as the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter. And Pi is also said to be never ending....
Equivalently, its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanently repeating pattern. Its decimal (or other base) digits appear to be randomly distributed, and are conjectured to satisfy a specific kind of statistical randomness
Pi - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
OK, so lets grab a length of string 100mm long and form a perfect circle,
In a physical sense, its length and diameter are clearly defined in front of you, and are most definitly finite.
Take the reverse, if you draw a circle with a diameter of 100mm, multiply it by Pi you get the circumference. But if Pi is never ending then the calculated number for the circumference has to be at best an approximation, and if Pi is endless, then the circles circumference can never be defined accuratly.
Only, the circles circumference as shown in the first example is finite. In that case 100mm.
So, how can Pi be infinite, when the circumference and diameter are clearly not Infinite.
Doesnt this imply that Pi at some point stops and is finite?