Pi A Biography of the World's Most Mysterious Number

Afterword by Dr. Herbert A. Hauptman, Nobel LaureateThis delightful book reveals an incredibly interesting history of the development of our knowledge of this ubiquitous number in mathematics. . . . I recommend this book to anyone who remembers ever hearing about Pi!-Stanley H. Kaplan, Founder of the Kaplan Test Preparation and Admission Programs. . . Read this book and enjoy the journey through the mysteries of pi. Give it to your students and you will have aroused their appreciation of the many wonders of mathematics.-Alice F. Artzt, Professor of Mathematics Education; Director of Undergraduate and Graduate Secondary Mathematics Education, Queens College of the City University of New York. . . The history of pi and the attempts to fully understand what it represents makes for amusing, interesting and enjoyable reading.-Dr. Stephen Krulik, Professor of Mathematics Education, Temple UniversityWe all learned that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is called p and that the value of this algebraic symbol is roughly 3.14. What we weren't told, though, is that behind this seemingly mundane fact is a world of mystery, which has fascinated mathematicians from ancient times to the present.Mathematicians call it a transcendental number because its value cannot be calculated by any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root extraction. This elusive nature has led intrepid investigators over the years to attempt ever-closer approximations. In 2002, a Japanese professor using a supercomputer calculated the value to 1.24 trillion decimal places! Nonetheless, in this huge string of decimals there is no periodic repetition.In this delightful layperson's introduction to one of math's most interesting phenomena, Drs. Posamentier and Lehmann review p's history from prebiblical times to the 21st century, the many amusing and mind-boggling ways of estimating ? over the centuries, quirky examples of obsessing about p (including an attempt to legislate its exact value), and useful applications of p in everyday life, including statistics.This enlightening and stimulating approach to mathematics will entertain lay readers while improving their mathematical literacy.Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D. (New York, NY), is dean of the School of Education and professor of mathematics education at The City College of the City University of New York. He has published more than 40 books in the area of mathematics and mathematics education, including The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers, Pi: A Biography of the World's Most Mysterious Number, and Math Charmers: Tantalizing Tidbits for the Mind..Ingmar Lehmann, Ph.D. (Berlin, Germany), is a mathematics educator at Humboldt University in Berlin and is the coauthor of The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers and Pi: A Biography of the World's Most Mysterious Number.