| Archimedes of Syrakus (287-212 B.C.) was one of the 4 Greek mathematicians that account for a climax in mathematical science before Christ (besides Euklid, Eratosthenes and Appolonius). He also was the only one of those who studied the circle. He systematically approximated PI and found an upper and a lower bound for the number. His approximation isolated PI between 3.1408… and 3.1428. Although there were others before him who found even more detailed bounds for PI, his method of calculation was unprecedented.
Archimedes calculated PI by successively drawing polygons with 6, 12, 24, 48, and 96 sides around a circle with the diameter d. As a result, he got an ascending sequence of perimeters for the outer polygon, as well as a descending sequence of perimeters for the inner polygon. Both of those sequences were converging the perimeter of the circle, i.e. PI*d.
There are numerous other ways to calculate PI that cannot all be referred to on this site. Check out the resources in the internet below if you want to know more about that.
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