|
Pi is an irrational number. Its value is approximately 3.14159... ; the number of decimal places is infinite, and there is no repeating pattern. If you'd like to see the first four thousand decimal places, you can visit our 'Pi' page. Or perhaps you're curious as to what Pi actually is ... in that case, you can have a look at where Pi comes from. One way to calculate for yourself the value of pi is to drop a lot of toothpicks onto a large piece of paper that has lines drawn on it!  standard toothpicks and a set line width; see below) From a height of about one metre, drop a measured number of toothpicks onto the chart paper, so that they all fall randomly somewhere on the paper. Count how many toothpicks are touching a line (or would be, if they weren't resting on another toothpick). Repeat this process as many times as you can. Lots of people can do it at once. All that's important is that, each time you drop some toothpicks, you write down how many you dropped, and how many of those ended up touching a line. When you're done, find a total for each quantity. You now have all the numbers you need to calculate Pi:
 comes from, visit our main 'Calculating Pi' page) You know the values for c (the length of a toothpick) and a (the distance between the lines). These must be measured in the same units. You also have M (the total number of toothpicks that were touching a line), and N (the total number of toothpicks dropped). Fill them into the formula, and work out your own value of Pi! How many decimal places did you get to agree with the real value 3.14159... ? Participating classes had to use standard flat toothpicks:  The distance between the lines drawn on the paper must be 60 mm (6.0 cm) |