ππ β π , the never-ending number
Pi was already known by various ancient civilisations, like the Babylonians and the Egyptians, for example, who had come close to the number 3.14. The former, in fact, expressed Ο as 25β8, that is, Ο=3.125; while the latter had calculated it to be Ο=3.1605. In the case of the Egyptians, we know this thanks to the Rhind Papyrus, the most extensive Egyptian mathematical papyrus that has come down to us, written in 1650 B.C. during the 15th dynasty and inspired by an even older text dating back to the 20th-18th centuries B.C.
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