Inspired by pi computation i wondered where pi was given it's name.I came up with this result(that was questioned however by a member of this forum)
Pi has taken that name because of the greek(of course) word περιφέρεια (=circumference)
How did pi get it's name
That is completely justified,because (as you may know) if you select a random circle and you calculate the fraction of the circle's circumference to it's own diameter you will get the number π (=pi=3.14).
I also read that π is given it's name by the greek word προσευχή (=pray) but it do not believe it.This idea stands at this
Code:
Αεί ο Θεός ο Μέγας γεωμετρεί, 3, 1 4 1 5 9
το κύκλου μήκος ίνα ορίση διαμέτρω, 2 6 5 3 5 8
παρήγαγεν αριθμόν απέραντον, 9 7 9
και ον, φεύ, ουδέποτε όλον θνητοί θα εύρωσι. 3 2 3 8 4 6 2 6
which is considered to be a pray by some people,but this is wrong.This was a mnemonic way in order that greek students of the mathematical uni of Athens were able to remember the first digits of π,and it was invented by a greek mathematician named N.Chatzidakis(1872-1942).The special about the above is that the amount of the letters of every word is equal to the corresponding digit of π.Αεί has three letters and first digit of π is 3,and so on.But π was named by the ancient greek mathematicians so this can not be true.(that π was given it's name by word pray( =προσευχή).
pray .At this link is also stated that π was given it's name by the word περιφέρεια( =circumference)
However i also found a link(i found only one for some reason..) that states that if the name was given by the ancient times,then it was not given by the Greeks but by the Egyptians.
What Is the History of Pi?
But,it happens that i have traveled to Egypt,and i remember that at the pyramids,there was something in these structures that was equal to 2*π.So this has done to us a big surprise.However experts and archaiologists from there said to us that this was just a coincidence,because no clue that Egyptians knew about π .And that is ok to me,because if they knew about this,why don't they wrote algorithms about it's calculation as Greeks did?In any way i believed(of course) the experts and not just a link.What the experts said to us at our travel,i did found it also on the net.
However the fact that a user of this forum questioned that π(=pi) comes from the greek word περιφέρεια made me post here,in order to let you tell us what you think about it