In sixth century B.C., Greece, a group of mathematicians formed a secret society called the Pythagoreans. They studied the mathematics of a man named Pythagoras. They invented extremely advanced musical scales and all wore the same tattoo. They stole off to secret meetings where each member would show their tattoo to gain entry. Anyone who was caught telling others of them or their dealings was summarily killed. This was a time when I guess math stirred a lot stronger feelings then it does for the average person today.
This elite group of mathematicians thought in the ways of the mystical philosophy that was taught to them by Pythagoras. They believed that numbers were the essence of all things, and that was their way of having an ordered rational universe.
That which Pythagoras is most famous for today, of course, is the number Pi. It's easy enough to say that Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter. But how do you measure that exactly? Where do you find a perfect circle? The Pythagoreans wound a string into a circle and measured it, then straightened it to get the circumference. A creative solution, but nothing measures exactly.
Today we have al sorts of amazingly cute ways to find Pi. Some work through finding the circumference of shapes that aren't circles, some through random probability formulas, arctangent formulas, it never ends. But it usually just comes down to people either find it mesmerizing or a fruitless waste of time. There is a national holiday on March the 14th, which you will notice is 3/14. People is math schools and such get together at 1:59 and eat pie. Others dedicate and entire computer to deciphering Pi to the six billionth digit.
I know the first 101 decimal places of Pi from memory, sadly enough. But I would like it noted that I would only waste time while in school on something so mind-numbing.
Here are the one hundred thousand decimals places of Pi, captured from UCLA.
Click the side bar to learn the calculus and geometric ways to calculate Pi.