Did you hear about the recent crop circle found this month in the English countryside? It baffled observers until someone figured it out. An electrical engineer from North Carolina noticed that it was an abstract representation of the first ten digits of pi, the number at the center of Euclidean geometry.This blog entry is not about crop circles, by the way.
Pi is what is known in mathematics as an irrational number, which means that it can not be expressed as a fraction. Contrary to a common myth, 22/7 does not represent pi. 22/7 is actually greater than pi…close but not the same. But pi is best known as a mathematical constant that represents the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. In other words pi equals a circle’s circumference divided by its diameter. The size of the circle is irrelevant, incidentally, because pi expresses the ratio of the circle’s circumference to its diameter.
While I am impressed with some artist(s)’s creativity in designing and producing this latest crop circle, I’m far more impressed with the number known as pi. It’s been a mystery for more than 3,500 years, and still proves to be so.No one has ever been able to find the end of the number, although (with the help of a supercomputer) the first 1.24 trillion digits are now known. Just to give some perspective, the first eleven digits (3.1415926535) of pi are accurate enough to measure the circumference of our planet to within a millimeter.
The reason this intrigues me is that in 1.24 trillion digits, there is no detectable pattern in the sequence of the numbers.
When I told one of my Junior High math teachers years ago that I was majoring in mathematics (and biblical studies) in college, she told me to look for God in math. I did…and I found Him. If ever a language had the fingerprints of God upon it, math does!
Pi is one of the most fundamental concepts and numbers in mathematics, and it’s infinite! Just like God. And pi is infinitely creative…just like God.
Even if no one who reads this blog cares about pi, I have yet another reason to praise my Lord!
