# Pi **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 1999, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892 "1999-11-14T01:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/1 "1999-11-14T01:09:00Z")
(OK, of course HTML doesn’t work in the heading.) I don’t _ **care** _ how many decimal places you know it to. I just want to know why it was named after the 16th letter of the Greek Alphabet? Ray (Why not American [http://cs.nyu.edu~yap/gifs/hlx/pi.gif](http://cs.nyu.edu~yap/gifs/hlx/pi.gif) ) ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/2 "1999-11-14T01:20:00Z")
Ray (Why not American [![](https://cs.nyu.edu/~yap/gifs/hlx/pi.gif) ](https://cs.nyu.edu/~yap/gifs/hlx/pi.gif) ) ---
**Author:** ![Court\_Jester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Court\_Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Court_Jester)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/3 "1999-11-14T01:25:00Z")
Because Don Mclean had it copyrighted? * * * A hat with bells on is not funny, it is the jester underneath. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/4 "1999-11-14T03:21:00Z")
Im getting a bit Pied. What Pi are you talking about?: 4pi noun pl pis "piz\ [MGk, fr. Gk pei, of Sem origin; akin to Heb pe pe] (1823) 1 : the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet — see alphabet table 2 a : the symbol p denoting the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter b : the ratio itself : a transcendental number having a value to eight decimal places of 3.14159265 1pi also pie "pi\ noun pl pies [origin unknown] (ca. 1659) 1 : type that is spilled or mixed 2 : a pi character or matrix 2pi also pie verb pied pi•ing or pie•ing (1870) verb transitive : to spill or throw (type or type matter) into disorder verb intransitive : to become pied 3pi adjective (ca. 1940) 1 : not intended to appear in final printing \ 2 : capable of being inserted only by hand \ ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 1999, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/5 "1999-11-14T15:04:00Z")
From _Asimov on Numbers_: > [@](#): > > Back about 1600 the English mathematician William Oughtred, in discussing the ratio of a circle’s perimeter to its diameter, used the Greek letter pi to symbolize the perimeter and the Greek letter delta to symbolize the diameter. They were the first letters, respectively, of _perimetron_ and _diametron._ ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/6 "1999-11-16T10:02:00Z")
Then I guess it OUGHT [to be] RED: . . . . . . . . . . \p\ Ray ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/7 "1999-11-18T02:31:00Z")
red pie is usually cherry, sometimes strawberry, ocaisionally tomato, which is a really nasty pie. I do not eat tomato pie. I can eat an entire cherry pie, but only about 3.14159 slices of strawberry. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/8 "1999-11-18T03:30:00Z")
According to Collins Dictionary: > [@](#): > > C18: representing the first letter of Greek _periphereia_PERIPHERY * * * omniscientnot, in a previous incarnation. The hyphen says it all… ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/9 "1999-11-18T03:48:00Z")
My 9th grade algebra teacher taught us a mnemonic phrase to remember pi to 12 places: > [@](#): > > See, I have a rhyme assisting my feeble brain its task offtimes resisting The comma holds the place of the decimal point. Did anybody else learn this one in school? * * * TT “Believe those who seek the truth. Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide ---
**Author:** ![TheIncredibleHolg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@TheIncredibleHolg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheIncredibleHolg)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/10 "1999-11-18T09:53:00Z")
“How I need a drink! Alcoholic, of course, after the heavy chapters involving quantum mechanics.” or, for the teetotalers: “May I have a large container of coffee?” You have to remember the position of the comma by yourself. ---
**Author:** ![TheIncredibleHolg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@TheIncredibleHolg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheIncredibleHolg)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/11 "1999-11-18T09:59:00Z")
I mean the position of the decimal point, of course. (In German, we use a decimal comma.) ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/12 "1999-11-18T13:49:00Z")
Crazy Germans, you think a 7 is a backwards F, and add that lil cross bar to a Z. The trouble with mnemonics is that I need a mnemonic to remember them. My friend Roy, a fine boy who desreves fame, says he can remember lots of them,especially on many very early mornings, but can’t remember what they stand for. I think my problem is that I once suffered a decimating coma. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![TheIncredibleHolg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@TheIncredibleHolg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheIncredibleHolg)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/13 "1999-11-18T15:18:00Z")
mr john: > [@](#): > > Crazy Germans, you think a 7 is a backwards F, and add that lil cross bar to a Z. In contrast to the decimal comma, those appear only in some (maybe most) people’s handwriting, never in printed matter. The second crossbar on the 7 helps differentiate it from a 1, which most of us write with the same short bar at the top that you see in some typefaces, so as to tell it from a capital I. Crazy? Only if you learned it a different way. As for the decimal comma, it gets even better: We use a period (as opposed to the anglo-saxon comma) to separate thousands, millions etc. in large numbers. So it’s just the opposite way. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who knows? Who cares? We also have different quotation marks etc. that have absolutely nothing to do with pi. > [@](#): > > The trouble with mnemonics is that I need a mnemonic to remember them. Yeah, I had to look up pi to find out whether it’s ‘the heavy chapters’ or ‘those heavy chapters’. I guess the real value of these mnemonics is that, over time, I remember where to look up pi. ---
**Author:** ![StrTrkr777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@StrTrkr777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrTrkr777)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 1999, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/14 "1999-11-19T06:27:00Z")
The real reason is some jokester Mathematician decided that it would indeed be funny for all of time for Math students to have to learn and quote Pi R Square, which of course sounds like Pie are square, so that some other non math person could then say “No, pie are round.” Then an english person can correct the math person and say either, “No, The pie is square or The pies are square, not pie are square. Didn’t they teach you subject/verb agreement in school?” Those crazy greek math people. Always something with them. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 1999, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/15 "1999-11-18T19:48:00Z")
Dern fools. Pi are round, cornbread’s square. ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 1999, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/16 "1999-11-19T07:55:00Z")
Considering how frayed this thread has gotten, perhaps it would be in order to mention all that stupid freshman humor like [![](https://cs.nyu.edu/~yap/gifs/hlx/int.gif) ](https://cs.nyu.edu/~yap/gifs/hlx/int.gif) 1/cabin d cabin = log cabin and \mthaa\ (\_) …---- %%| |^^| |’ Ray ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 1999, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/17 "1999-11-19T07:59:00Z")
Make the last: (\_) … ---- %| |^^| |’ ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 1999, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/18 "1999-11-19T08:06:00Z")
This: \m t h a a\ (\_) … ‘---- %| |^^| |’ Ray ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 1999, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/19 "1999-11-19T08:10:00Z")
(\_) … ’ ---- #| |^^| |’ ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 1999, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892/20 "1999-11-19T08:15:00Z")
And I guess the first one should’ve really been written: [![](https://cs.nyu.edu/~yap/gifs/hlx/int.gif) ](https://cs.nyu.edu/~yap/gifs/hlx/int.gif) (1/cabin)d cabin = log cabin [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pi/4892.md?page=2)