The story of Zu Chongzhi and Pi The shorter the better

Zu Chongzhi (429-500 AD) was a native of Laiyuan County, Hebei Province during the Northern and Southern Dynasties of China He read many books on astronomy and mathematics since he was a child, and he was diligent and studious, and practiced hard, which finally made him an outstanding mathematician and astronomer in ancient China

Zu Chongzhi's outstanding achievement in mathematics is about the calculation of pi Before the Qin and Han dynasties, people to"Trail three times a week"As pi, this is"Ancient rate"Later, it was found that the error of the paleorate was too large, and the pi should be"The circle diameter is more than three days", but how much is left, opinions differ Until the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Hui proposed a scientific method for calculating pi"Circumcision", use the circumference of the circle inscribed regular polygon to approximate the circumference of the circle Liu Hui calculates that the circle is inscribed with 96 polygons, and obtains =, and points out that the more sides of the inscribed regular polygon, the more accurate the value obtained Zu Chongzhi on the basis of the achievements of his predecessors, after hard work, repeated calculations, found In between and and obtained the approximate value in the form of fractions, taken as the approximate rate , taken as the dense rate, where the six decimal places are taken, it is the fraction of the closest value of the numerator denominator within 1000 What method did Zu Chongzhi use to get this result, Now there is no way to examine if it is assumed that he will press Liu Hui's"Circumcision"If you want to find this method, you have to calculate that the circle is connected with 16,384 polygons, which requires a lot of time and labor! It can be seen that his tenacious perseverance and intelligence in his scholarship are admirable Zu Chongzhi's calculation of the dense rate, it has been more than a thousand years since foreign mathematicians achieved the same result In order to commemorate Zu Chongzhi's outstanding contributions, some foreign historians of mathematics have suggested that = be called"Ancestral rate"．

Zu Chongzhi read the famous classics at that time, insisted on seeking truth from facts, he compared and analyzed a large number of materials from his own measurement and calculation, found the serious errors of the past calendar, and had the courage to improve, and at the age of 33, he successfully compiled the "Ming Calendar", opening up a new era in the history of the calendar

About. Year 1500.

Former. China has a great one.

Mathematician. And.

Astronomer. Zu Chongzhi.

He calculated. Pi.

Should be between and become.

in the world. The first one exacts the value of pi to 7 digits.

Decimal fraction. of people. This great achievement of his was so precise than that of foreign mathematicians.

Numeric value. at least a thousand years earlier.

Zu Chongzhi calculated that the true value of pi ( ) is between and , which is equivalent to being accurate to the 7th decimal place, which is simplified, and Zu Chongzhi was selected as the first scientist in the world to calculate the value of pi to the 7th decimal place by the World Records Association.

Zu Chongzhi also gave two fractional forms of pi ( ): 22 7 (approximate rate) and 355 113 (dense rate), where the density is accurate to the 7th decimal place. Zu Chongzhi's accurate estimation of pi is a major contribution to China and even the world, and later generations named the "approximate rate" after him "Zu Chongzhi's pi", referred to as "Zu rate".