The number pi seems strange.

In his column in Folha, Marcelo Viana tells the story of the mysterious number 3.1415.

The number pi seems strange, but it is an inexhaustible source of wonders.

We were all introduced to π in school, but I believe that for many it was more a source of discomfort than fascination. For most, it's just a strange impression, "a number that never ends." It's a shame, because π is truly an inexhaustible source of wonder.

The ancient Greeks already knew that when we draw a circle, its length (which they called perimeter, or circumference) is proportional to its width (or rather, diameter). In other words:

perimeter = constant times diameter

where the constant is always the same, regardless of the circle. Such a constant deserves a name: the Greeks called it π, which is the initial letter of the word "perimeter" in Greek. In fact, all this was already known before – the Greeks learned many of these things from the Egyptians and Babylonians, such as the fact that π is slightly larger than 3.

But knowing exactly how much it's worth is another story…

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