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Jatin Kaushal
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I was wondering, how can I derive pi without fancy math (fancy meaning too complex. I'm not taking out calculus or trig or anything, just not too advance concepts). Can anyone help me out?
That requires computation on software...Maple can do about 10,000 digits instantly.Jatin Kaushal said:Pi as in how can I find out the actual digits of pi if I never know it. Like how can I find out the ratio of the circle's Circumference to it's diameter
Take a tiled floor and scatter a handful of nails or satay sticks, mix with lots of patience, and you can experimentally determine a value for Pi by a procedure known as Buffon's Needle experiment. http://www.math.leidenuniv.nl/~hfinkeln/seminarium/stelling_van_Buffon.pdfJatin Kaushal said:Pi as in how can I find out the actual digits of pi if I never know it. Like how can I find out the ratio of the circle's Circumference to it's diameter
I do this with my students for a fun activity every year. With enough drops you can easily get three of four decimals correct. What is your trick for improving precision?NascentOxygen said:Another demonstration uses what is known as a Monte Carlo technique. Draw a square of some convenient size, and inside the square draw the largest possible circle.
Next, scatter lots of dots at random all over the square; keep a count and call this number S dots. Count how many of those random dots fall inside the circle, call this number C. Then the ratio C/S gives us the ratio of the areas of the two figures, viz., Pi/4.
The more dots you scatter, the more accurate the resultant estimate for Pi. Repeat this multiple times to improve the result even further.
I like this method, because after performing it 7 or 8 times you can apply a law of statistics to produce an estimate of Pi to much better precision than you would expect.
Which provides an incentive to improve the procedure by reducing the labor involved! You don't need the full common central area, so you can eliminate the circle's inscribed square from the picture. And you don't need 4 areas, all identical---just one will do. This leaves us with a 3-sided figure containing a circle segment: the competing areas to be covered with dots now being roughly equal.mfb said:but it doesn't sound like fun to do it manually.
I can help, because we have a binomial distribution with variance ##N p q## whereas the central value is Np or Nq. You gain much more from removing areas, however - going to a triangle makes the final formula ##\pi = 2 + 2 \frac{inside}{total}##, so the relative uncertainty now applies to a smaller value (~1.14 instead of 3.14). You could now start to cut away a triangle from the outer part as well, going to ##\pi = 2 + 1.3 \frac{inside}{total}## and so on. Effectively you are approximating pi with the areas itself then, the closer you get with one of the areas the better.NascentOxygen said:I'm not sure how to prove it mathematically, but I have a notion that when the areas are less dissimilar then Monte Carlo gives us better accuracy with fewer random dots.
mfb said:To expect to get 3.14 correct (<1/100 error on 4-pi), you need about 10,000 points. 3.141 or 3.142? 1 million. A computer can easily do that, but it doesn't sound like fun to do it manually.
DrewD said:Most of the time we have gotten decently good values with about 200-500 points per class.
mfb said:Even with 500 points, getting 3.14 is more luck than a good estimate. 3.1 or 3.2 should be very frequent, but still not guaranteed.
Sure, you can use a ruler. Other methods are just more accurate.down to earth said:Question; wouldn't it be possible to derive the number pi just by knowing that it should be equal to a circle's circumference divided by its diameter? If you could use a ruler or something to get a reasonably accurate measurement of the circumference of an existing circle with a known diameter or radius, couldn't you divide that number by the diameter and get a value for pi to within a decimal or two (or more, depending on how accurate your circumference measurement was)? Maybe you could do this with several different circles and average the pi values, for your estimate to be more accurate?
During the French Revolution the revolutionaries declared that the value of Pi was to have a value of exactly 3 to simplify calculations so mathematics would no longer be the preserve of the hated intellectual elite.down to earth said:wouldn't it be possible to derive the number pi just by knowing that it should be equal to a circle's circumference divided by its diameter
The purpose of "Derive Pi: An Easy Guide Without Complex Math" is to provide a simplified and easy-to-understand explanation of how to derive the mathematical constant pi without using complex equations or formulas. It aims to make the concept of pi more accessible to a wider audience.
No, this guide is designed for individuals with little to no background in math. It uses simple and straightforward explanations and examples to help readers understand the concept of pi and how to derive it.
This guide is different from other resources on pi because it focuses on deriving the value of pi without using complex math. It breaks down the concept into simple steps and explanations, making it easier for readers to understand and follow along.
Yes, understanding how to derive pi can be helpful in various real-world applications, such as calculating circumference, area, and volume of circles, spheres, and cylinders. It can also be useful in fields such as architecture, engineering, and physics.
Yes, this guide can serve as a helpful reference for teaching others about pi. Its simplified approach and clear explanations make it a useful tool for explaining the concept to students or others who may be unfamiliar with pi.