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Do you know the character
who discovered the value of
the number π ?
Read the following text!
Zu Chongzhi
In Chinese history many mathematicians have attempted to calculate π. While the
results achieved by Zu Chongzhi in the 5th century can be said to be an advance in
calculating π. Zu Chongzhi was born in the city of Jiankang (Nanjing city) in the
year 429. Since childhood he was very intelligent and liked knowledge in the fields
of mathematics and astronomy. In the third year 464 he was 35 years old, Zu
Chengzhi began to calculate π. In everyday life, Chinese people know that the
length of the circumference of a circle is three times the diameter of the circle.
Before Zu Chongzhi, the Chinese mathematician Liu Hui proposed a scientific way
to calculate π, with the length of the circumference of a regular polygon in a circle
to approximate the length of the circumference of the original circle. In this way Liu
Hui has calculated π o 4 digits after the decimal point. Meanwhile, through Zu
Chongzhi's research, π has been calculated up to 7 digits behind the comma, namely
between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927, and obtained a value similar to π in the form of
a fraction. To commemorate Zu Chongzhi's results, overseas mathematicians have
proposed naming π with the Zu level. Zu Chongzhi and his son also finished
calculating the volume of the ball. This mathematical principle is called the Zu
principle. Prior to the 14th century, China was a relatively advanced country in the
field of mathematics.
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