# Re: Who first invented Pi ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 23, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374 "2018-02-23T00:23:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DonLehner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@DonLehner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLehner)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/1 "2018-02-23T00:23:19Z")
Who first invented Pie ? ( Sorry ’ couldn’t resist ) … 😝 ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/2 "2018-02-23T02:21:22Z")
Pie, as well as Pi, are immutable facts of nature. Neither needed to be invented. Only discovered. While having access to flour, butter, and apples. Or cherries. Mmmmm… Cherry pie. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/3 "2018-02-23T03:53:16Z")
> [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](#): > > Pie, as well as Pi, are immutable facts of nature. Neither needed to be invented. Only discovered. While having access to flour, butter, and apples. Or cherries. Mmmmm… Cherry pie. Damn good pi! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/4 "2018-02-23T04:05:30Z")
Is [this](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2036/who-invented-pi/) the article being discussed? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/5 "2018-02-23T04:49:23Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > Is [this](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2036/who-invented-pi/) the article being discussed? On my computer, what I assume are supposed to be pi characters in that article are just showing up as p’s. (I checked multiple browsers.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/6 "2018-02-23T06:01:02Z")
I think pie started with a portable meal of cooked meat wrapped in a pastry and baked or fried. It was for on the road eating. I think Martha Stewart may have told me that. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/7 "2018-02-23T13:19:19Z")
**Pi - "Originally defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter."** Pie is called “pie” because it is round. What has this to do with “Pi”, you ask? Well, my great, great, great, great (I forget how many “greats”) grandfather, a Greek mathematician who married into my Italian family and was never truly accepted because he was a foreigner, invented “Pie” and decided to give it that name because of its circular relationship to “Pi”. It’s not something I brag about, but you did ask. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/8 "2018-02-23T15:41:33Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Pie is called “pie” because it is round… Please. Everybody knows that pie are squared. (Low hanging fruit?) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/9 "2018-02-23T16:03:40Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > On my computer, what I assume are supposed to be pi characters in that article are just showing up as p’s. (I checked multiple browsers.) Same problem on my work computer. Is this something that got messed up when the site was redesigned? It really needs to be fixed. Currently the article contains confusing nonsense like this: > [@](#): > > Before 1736 he used the letter p to represent the ratio, but in that year, he started using p (for Latin peripheria) instead. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/10 "2018-02-24T03:38:58Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > Please. Everybody knows that pie are squared. > > (Low hanging fruit?) You got it wrong. Cornbread are square; Pie are round. I knew nothing good would come of that book-learnin’. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/11 "2018-02-24T03:46:05Z")
My cornbread are round. I make hand-pies that are crescents. I make cobbler that are rectangles. Alton Brown told me they are pies also. I can’t think of nothing to cook that is squared (Oh I forgot brownies are squares) ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/12 "2018-02-26T17:02:20Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Same problem on my work computer. Is this something that got messed up when the site was redesigned? It really needs to be fixed. Currently the article contains confusing nonsense like this: If the article is being fixed, there’s also an error here: > [@](#): > > …Ahmes papyrus has no circumference problems. It does have several problems that involve a multi-step procedure for finding the area of a circle from the diameter. In modern terminology, it boils down to multiplying the diameter by the square of eight-ninths. I assume that was supposed to be “multiplying the square of the diameter by the square of eight-ninths.” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/13 "2018-02-26T17:15:06Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I think pie started with a portable meal of cooked meat wrapped in a pastry and baked or fried. It was for on the road eating. > I think Martha Stewart may have told me that. Obviously you have never been to Yooperland. UP there they are fond of these things called “pasties” which are basically meat and potatoes (and sometimes cabbage) wrapped and cooked in pastry. That was the working-man’s lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/14 "2018-02-26T17:31:32Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > Please. Everybody knows that pie are squared. > > (Low hanging fruit?) Ye be a clever devil! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/15 "2018-02-26T18:09:37Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Ye be a clever devil! 😃 Yeah, but now I want cornbread… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/16 "2018-02-26T19:30:28Z")
Yeah, well I am hankering for the cry of √-1. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/17 "2018-02-26T19:39:43Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Yeah, well I am hankering for the cry of √-1. I remember that from Calculus. The square root of negative one is “i”, which stands for "imaginary. So, something like 7i means 7 x the square root of negative one. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-who-first-invented-pi/809374/18 "2018-02-26T19:44:59Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My cornbread are round. I make hand-pies that are crescents. I make cobbler that are rectangles. Alton Brown told me they are pies also. I can’t think of nothing to cook that is squared > > (Oh I forgot brownies are squares) You’ve never cooked a square meal?