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1. 
   neela Teacher
   Graduate School

   eNotes Editor

   1)

   pi  is an irrational number. It is also a nonalgebraic or a transcendental number.Nobody can write it correctly by limiting it to a few digits like 22/7 or 3.14159.... etcetra.

   2)

   Though it is an irrational number , it is not rude and its secret relation with circular,spherical and round objects is well known to everybody.

   3)

   Circumference/ diameter  is equal to pi. So, it is a real number and visually real.

   4)

   e^(i*pi)+1=0. Mind this is an identity. See the role of Pi here. It connects real world of  connecting additive identity,0, the multiplicative identity,1 and pi with an imaginary unit of i, square root of-1.  The strange irrational  and transcental number, pi connects itself with  another irrational and transental number , e with the help of the imamaginary number i, the square root of -1 . Leonard Euler is the mathematician who gave this  fantastic 'mathematical identity' to us. There are so many who say that this transendental numbers making a relationship is a wonderful 'poetry of mathematics'. Interesting or confusing?

   5)

   The digits of pi beyond the first few decimal places are of no practical or scientific value. Four decimal places are sufficient for the design of the finest engines; ten decimal places are sufficient to obtain the circumference of the earth within a fraction of an inch if the earth were a smooth sphere.

   You can get a number of quotes on pi at the stroke of a button. I gave a few. Considering the above , the pi is kept as a symbol rather than reducing its dignity to a limitted  digits,  just like e.

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   Posted by neela on Sunday July 12, 2009 at 10:55 AM