Product Description

Documents the calculation, numerical value, and use of the ratio from 2000 B.C. to the modern computer age, detailing social conditions in eras when progress was made.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #248011 in Books
• Published on: 1976-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Brilliant and controversial -- Which a book should be!
Dr. Petr Beckmann was never one to mince words. He quotes a biblical passage that strongly implies that pi equals 3, and while he is never disrespectful to the Bible, he does mock the tortured attempts of some fundamentalists to reconcile this passage with the actual value of pi.

He also mocks the Indiana State Legislature (which, in 1897, nearly passed a law that set the value of pi at about 9.23), and Theodore Heisel (who, in 1931, wrote a mathematical treatise that ignored 4000 years of progress in determining pi).

But he praises Archimedes and Newton, among others, for their heroic and quiet progress in determining the value and application of pi. And, sadly, he concludes that the Heisels of the world are more numerous than the Archimedes.

Great book. But it must be read with an open mind.

How many ways can you Calculate PI ?
Dr. Beckmann presents a good overview for the experimenter/historian on the nature of this transcendental number.From the Early Greeks to the computer age he gives a good historical example of how PI has been derived. A little lacking on the computer age, he presents a good overview for beginning students.

A math history book that is hard to put down.
This book sheds a whole new light on the history of mathematics. A must read for anyone interested in math. Uses pi to hold the book from meandering through too much unrelated information. From high school age to retired, a marvelously written account of the origins of numbers. The book's best attribute is Dr. Beckman wit which keeps your interest throughout, regardless of the topic.