Monday, April 27, 2009
Homework due 04/28/09
Re-read the Jamshed al-Kashi article by Glen Van Brummelen and this time focus on al-Kashi's approximation of Pi. Re-try his method in your homework journals, grappling with all the arguments and seeing how he geometrically derives his formula. It will require your prior knowledge of geometry. Be ready to discuss your exploration in class.
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4 comments:
Can someone refresh my memory on what the subscripts mean? I know what the exponents mean, but I am not sure how to use the subscripts in the equation. I understand that n stands for the number of sides, but am not sure how to go from there.
The subscripts are referring to each new hypotenuse and leg, c and a, respectively. So, if you can see on one of the diagrams, the 'a' sub 2 refers to the side length of the dodecagon and 'a' sub 1 refers to the side length of the hexagon. The same goes for the corresponding hypotenuses drawn. Hope this helps.
I think so.
OOps I made a mistake calling c the hypotenuse. I meant the other leg. of the right triangle formed. Please make that correction to my previous post.
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