A brief history of pi

Everybody knows the value of pi is 3.14…er, something, but how many people know where the ratio came from? Actually, the ratio came from nature—it’s the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, and it was always there, just waiting to be discovered. But who discovered it? In honor of Pi Day, here’s a semi-brief history of how pi came to be known as 3.14(1592653589793238462643383279502884197169…and so on). Editor’s note: This article originally published in 2010. We’re rerunning it today in honor of Pi Day, 3/14. The history lessonIt’s hard to pinpoint who, exactly, first b…

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