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Don't Memorize Pi More | Login | Reply

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My personal favorite... (Score:2)

by Damian (784) on 2006.04.21 17:15 (#47326)

I understand that Brian was sharing a mathematical elegance with us, rather than actually trying to use PI, but since we're now headed off in that direction...
When I need to approximate PI, I just remember the sequence [1 1 3 3 5 5], rearranging its two halves to get:

my $PI = 355/113;

which is correct to the first seven decimal places.
That's sufficiently accurate to compute the circumference of the Earth from its radius with an error of about 3 metres (out of 40 million metres). Close enough for most everyday calculations. ;-)

Reply to This
- Re:My personal favorite... (Score:2)
  
  by brian_d_foy (44)
  
  It's probably exactly the circumference of the earth if you pick the right spot. Short by 3 meters? Just move a bit off the mountain. :)

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