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From: das@ecsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.math,net.misc
Subject: Re: state law on value of pi
Message-ID: <2260@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Apr-84 14:00:21 EST
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.2260
Posted: Thu Apr  5 14:00:21 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Apr-84 03:52:30 EST
Lines: 24

Ref dciem.814,815,816 and brl-vgr.3076 -- see first ref for
other references.

It's difficult to know what "the value of pi" means when the given
information contradicts itself.  The first part of the Indiana bill
certainly implies pi=4, even though Mark Brader gives a convincing
case that the author thought 3.2 was the right value.  If the area
of a circle is (pi*r/2)^2 (as in the bill) and is also pi*r^2 (as
we all know it to be), it follows that pi has to be 4.  The argument
for 3.2 is similar to this, but it is based on a later part of the
bill.

The correct author's name for The History of Pi is Petr Beckmann.
Complete reference and more details on related subjects may be
found in my book Interface: Calculus and the Computer, Saunders
College Publishing, 1984 (second edition).


     David A. Smith
     Department of Mathematics
     Duke University
     Durham, NC 27706
     (919) 684-2321
     {decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!das