Sometimes it’s hard to find math in the Bible but when you start training yourself to look, you’d be amazed of how much you’ll find.

Today is March 14 and as a mathematician I could not let the day go by without talking about pi. Pi is the Greek name of the symbol that represents the irrational number π that we truncate to 3.14. Today is 3/14…get it 😁.

But where did pi come from? The abbreviated version is that around 250 BC the Greek mathematician Archimedes created an algorithm for calculating it.  HOWEVER, civilizations including Egyptians and Babylonians were calculating it WAY before that.

In fact it’s in the Bible! In 1 Kings 7:23  it states “And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about…and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about” (KJV).

You see pi is the ratio of the Circumference (the distance AROUND the circle) to the diameter (the distance across the middle of the circle).

In 1 Kings 7:23  the “ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about” lets us know the diameter is 10 cubits. The phrase “…and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about” let’s us know the Circumference is 30 cubits.

To calculate pi we would do C/d and get 30/10=3. It is also known as pi at 3.

What you will notice is that this number is not quite pi but perform this experiment with a variety of circles and you will notice a pattern of 3.14…. emerging.

Try it out and let me know!

Here is a link to local pi deals today!
https://www.ajc.com/blog/atlanta-restaurants/how-celebrate-national-day-atlanta-deals-recipes-and-more/AYNq4li4wuvTce3YcWrIDO/