Ohio Resource Center
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Content Supports
Computing Pi
Discipline
Mathematics
Grades
7, 8, 9, 10
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Professional Commentary

This applet demonstrates how the Greek mathematician, Archimedes, approximated the value of pi by inscribing and circumscribing polygons about a circle. Student can use the slide bar at the bottom of the applet to increase the number of sides, n, of inscribed and circumscribed polygons for two circles. The first circle is a unit circle which has has an area of pi. As the number of sides of the inscribed and circumscribed regular polygons is increased for the unit circle, the areas of the polygons approach pi. The second circle is a circle with a diameter of one and, therefore, a circumference of pi. As the number of sides for the inscribed and circumscribed regular polygons increases, the perimeters of the polygons approach pi. This two-part investigation provides a visualization for building understanding of the meaning of pi. (author/js)


Ohio Mathematics Academic Content Standards (2001)
Number, Number Sense and Operations Standard
Benchmarks (8–10)
D.
Connect physical, verbal and symbolic representations of integers, rational numbers and irrational numbers.
Grade Level Indicators (Grade 7)
3.
Describe differences between rational and irrational numbers; e.g., use technology to show that some numbers (rational) can be expressed as terminating or repeating decimals and others (irrational) as non-terminating and non-repeating decimals.
Grade Level Indicators (Grade 8)
2.
Recognize that natural numbers, whole numbers, integers, rational numbers and irrational numbers are subsets of the real number system.
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
Number and Operations Standard
Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems
Expectations (9–12)
compare and contrast the properties of numbers and number systems, including the rational and real numbers, and understand complex numbers as solutions to quadratic equations that do not have real solutions;