Ingo Siekmann <Ingo-Siekmann@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Luke Campbell schrieb:
>> On Mar 15, 6:55 am, Jack Tingle <wjtin...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> Yesterday being pi-day (3/14 at approximately 1:59:27), I tried a
little
>>> exercise. The most commonly used approximations for this nasty little
>>> number are 3.1416, 22/7, and 355/113. Since pi is 3.14159... 3.1416 is
a
>>> pretty good approximation, and only requires you to remember five
>>> digits. 22/7 only needs 3 digits, while 355/113 needs a prodigious act
>>> of memory on SIX whole digits [shocked muttering from audience].
>>
>> But for all practical purposes
>> float pi = acos(-1.0);
>
> In my school time (20+ years ago), the math teacher told us to set pi at
> 3.15 for tests and homework, because we all used different pocket
> calculators with "different post-comma pis".
> Bet you start crying now. :-)
We weren't allowed to replace pi with bad approximations of pi. Only
real pi would do.
mcv.
--
Science is not the be-all and end-all of human existence. It's a tool.
A very powerful tool, but not the only tool. And if only that which
could be verified scientifically was considered real, then nearly all
of human experience would be not-real. -- Zachriel
|
