Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the most detailed number in nature. In the Bible's description of Solomon's temple it comes out as three, Archimedes calculated it to the equivalent of 14 decimal places and today's super computers have defined it with an extraordinary degree of accuracy to its first 1.4 trillion digits. It is the longest number in nature and we only need its first 32 figures to calculate the size of the known universe within the accuracy of one proton. We are talking about Pi, 3.14159 etc, the number which describes the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference. How has something so commonplace in nature been such a challenge for maths? And what does the oddly ubiquitous nature of Pi tell us about the hidden complexities of our world? With Robert Kaplan, co-founder of the Maths Circle at Harvard University, Eleanor Robson, Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University; and Ian Stewart, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading the inartime podcast. For more details about inartime and for our terms of use |
| 0:05.4 | Please go to bbc.co.uk forward slash radio for I hope you enjoy the program |
| 0:11.5 | Hello in the Bible's description of Solomon's Temple. It comes out as three |
| 0:16.3 | Archimedes in the third century calculated it to the third century BC that is calculated it to the equivalent of 14 decimal places |
| 0:24.1 | And today super computers have defined it with an extraordinary of accuracy to its first 1.4 trillion digits |
| 0:30.5 | But there are more to come. It's the longest number in nature |
| 0:33.9 | Probably the most potent and we need only its first 32 figures to calculate the size of the known universe within the accuracy of one proton |
| 0:42.3 | I'm talking about pi 3.14159 etc etc |
| 0:47.1 | The number which describes the ratio of a circles diameter to its circumference |
| 0:51.3 | How has something so commonplace in nature been such a challenge for mathematics? |
| 0:55.6 | And what does the ubiquitous nature of pi tell us about the hidden complexities of our world today? |
| 1:01.2 | With me to discuss pi are Ellen and Robson lecturer in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University |
| 1:07.7 | Ian Stewart Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University and Professor Robert Kaplan co-founder of the math circle at Harvard University and |
| 1:15.0 | Co-author of the art and the infinite Robert Kaplan to start with you. Why is pi so important? |
| 1:21.0 | I think of it as historically the first of the slippery numbers |
| 1:25.7 | It means so much to us both in practical terms |
| 1:30.4 | Finding out the area the circumference of a circle |
| 1:33.5 | But also in trying to come to grips with what numbers are and yet like a virus |
| 1:39.2 | It keeps slipping through our finest filters. It isn't commensurable with our ways of being precise |
| 1:46.7 | And how was it first come upon as an idea rather than a number? |
| 1:53.8 | Well our first bit of evidence for pi comes up in the |
| 1:58.5 | Rind Papyrus from 1600 BC |
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