What is the origin of the Pi number?

2000/04/05 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Matematika

The number pi is the quotient between the circumference perimeter and the diameter. Or if desired, the quotient between the surface of the circle and the square of the radius.

But what exactly is the value of the Pi number? The question is still pending, as Pi has infinite decimals. And not only that, because it is not yet possible to predict those decimals. The Pi number cannot appear as the quotient of the two integers and there is no equation like X + Y that serves to accurately calculate Pi.

It was defined by the Greek mathematician Archimedes. III. Pi value for the first time in the 18th century: Between 3,140 and 3,143. Since then, mathematicians have been adding decimals and tuning the value. XX. In the eighteenth century the calculation was made available to computers, so that in 1997 a Japanese managed to calculate 51.539.600.000 decimal places of Pi.

But research remains! Because we still do not know if all these decimals are totally random or follow some law.