Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : pi and the bible

[Shyne]

It is interesting that according to the bible the PI is 3. Any religion guru out there want to explain that?

[Acroplex]

You MUST watch this movie GO RENT IT NOW!

[Acroplex]

And a quick summary of the plot.

In Manhattan, behind six locks, lives Max Cohen, a mathematician and computer whiz. Since staring at the sun at age six, he's had terrible headaches; plus, he can't abide human contact except with an aging professor, and he's obsessed with finding numeric patterns. His current obsession is the stock market; his theories bring him to the attention of Wall Street traders. He also keeps running into Lenny, a fast-talking Hasidic who fronts for a cabal that wants to rediscover long-lost mathematical mysteries in the Torah. Neither group is benign, and they pursue Max as his hallucinations and headaches worsen. Does nature offer any solutions? Can Max find them?

[Shyne]

Thanks, I think I will.

Let's try to stay on the topic though, because I want to see what people have to say.

[Shyne]

What could be more fun than sitting with a hot cup of tea and watching religious people sweat over these type of question?

[Acroplex]

There is another thread going on

[JayC]

Nowhere in the Bible does it say "PI is 3" -- but that statement is derived from a description of a container or vessel located within a temple. It was described as being "ten cubits" from rim to rim and "thirty cubits" around. So some people take that as "proof" of inaccuracy in the Bible. Personally, I think there's a lot of inaccuracy in the Bible, but I also think that example is pretty silly.

It's not a technical manual, and the passage indicated is just a casual description. Given that and that measurements weren't likely to be accurate anyway in a day when a "cubit" was simply defined as "the length of a man's forearm" and it's ridiculous to have any expectation of scientific accuracy and precision in the measurements.

Some people also argue that the container could simply have been wider at the brim than at the base or body.

Thanks to Google, that position clearly explained:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/494.asp
And a more technical approach to answering the question:
http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html

[Acroplex]

Great stuff JayC
Now go see the movie, it's one of my all-time favorites.

PS It's shot in black and white.

[JayC]

Originally posted by timechange
Now go see the movie, it's one of my all-time favorites.

Yep, I've seen it. I enjoyed it -- I think you can approach it two ways: if you're interested in mathematics and/or religious mysticism (and for the mathemeticians, as long as the gaps in logic don't distract you too much) you can enjoy those elements; but otherwise it's just a good, creepy, scary sort-of-horror film. And what a depiction of someone slipping into insanity.

Oh yeah, and geeks will like the retro-looking computer equipment; that was fun.

[Shyne]

http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/494.asp

Both of those resources find pi at 7th or 8th digit and then assume all the other digits after it is right which is obviously not true, and then the author says the error is 0.00026% and makes it ok. I just find it funny that no matter how they try to defend it there is still an error.

[Acroplex]

Let's not forget the ancient Anglosaxon mystic fable, that has its roots lost in the darkness of the Medieval times:

"How long is a piece of string?"