Calculating pi to n decimal places

reinsuranc · #1 Sep 7, 2005, 04:14 AM

Suppose your goal is to calculate (not look up) a value of pi that is accurate to n decimal places. Suppose n were 10. How would you do it?

colbtech · Sep 7, 2005, 05:51 AM

In Excel enter the formula:

=PI()

widen the column

then click on the icon to increase decimal (Formatting)

Is this what you're after?

reinsuranc · Sep 14, 2005, 03:17 PM

Thank you, but no, that's not what I was after.

Using the Excel built-in function is sort of similar to a table lookup.

What did we do before Excel to CALCULATE, not look up, the value of pi?

I suspect the answer is to use a Taylor's series expansion of some mathematical function. Is that what would have been done?

CroCivic91 · Sep 14, 2005, 05:18 PM

It is a good idea...i guess you could ask the same question for number "e" (base of natural logarithm). You could take a function e^x, get it's Taylor's series expansion and calculate it's value for x=1. Now you only have to take some function whose value in a certain point is PI...call that point x_pi, get that function's Taylor's series expansion, and calculate it's value in x_pi.



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