Π

Sweet and gentle and sensitive man
With an obsessive nature and deep fascination
For numbers
And a complete infatuation with the calculation
Of π.... ~ Kate Bush

π (sometimes written pi) is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius. π is a transcendental number, approximately equal to 3.14159265358979 in the usual decimal notation.

Sourced

He does love his numbers
And they run, they run, they run him
In a great big circle
In a circle of infinity... ~ Kate Bush

• Sweet and gentle and sensitive man
  With an obsessive nature and deep fascination
  For numbers
  And a complete infatuation with the calculation
  Of π.
  • Kate Bush, in Aerial (2005) Disc I : A Sea of Honey

• He does love his numbers
  And they run, they run, they run him
  In a great big circle
  In a circle of infinity
  3.14159 26535897932 3846 264 338 3279...
  • Kate Bush, in Aerial (2005) Disc I : A Sea of Honey

• It's a door, Sol. It's a door.
  • Maximillian Cohen, in π (1998), written by Darren Aronofsky, Sean Gullette, and Eric Watson.

• Something's going on. It has to do with that number. There's an answer in that number.
  • Maximillian Cohen, in π (1998), written by Darren Aronofsky, Sean Gullette, and Eric Watson.

• One of the most frequently mentioned equations was Euler's equation, $e^{i \pi} + 1 = 0. \,\!$ Respondents called it "the most profound mathematical statement ever written"; "uncanny and sublime"; "filled with cosmic beauty"; and "mind-blowing". Another asked: "What could be more mystical than an imaginary number interacting with real numbers to produce nothing?" The equation contains nine basic concepts of mathematics — once and only once — in a single expression. These are: e (the base of natural logarithms); the exponent operation; π; plus (or minus, depending on how you write it); multiplication; imaginary numbers; equals; one; and zero.
  • Robert P. Crease, in "The greatest equations ever" at PhysicsWeb (October 2004)

• There is a famous formula, perhaps the most compact and famous of all formulas — developed by Euler from a discovery of de Moivre: $e^{i \pi} + 1 = 0. \,\!$ It appeals equally to the mystic, the scientist, the philosopher, the mathematician.
  • Edward Kasner and James R. Newman in Mathematics and the Imagination (1940).

External links

• Digits of Pi at the Open Directory Project