Re: cubits
Murphy (gmurphy@imperium.net)
Sun, 01 Sep 1996 12:50:53 -0400William T. Yates wrote:
>
> Juli Kuhl wrote:
> >
> > you wrote that "a round basin 30 cubits around and 10 across...
> > should be 31.41592635389793238... cubits"
> >
> > maybe there's another way of looking at this: 30 cubits around
> > could be the *perimeter* and 10 across could be the distance
> > of the two widest points of the circle, no? How does that
> > work out mathematically (in round numbers, please. I'm not a
> > mathematician.) Just wondering.
> >
> > I agree with the rest of your posting re: liberal/literal euphemizing.
> >
> > Juli Kuhl
>
> Back to Geometry 101, Juli! The "perimeter" of a circle is the same as
> it's circumference. The distance of the two widest points on the circle
> would be the diameter. And the relationship of the circumference to the
> diameter of a circle is defined as pi (3.141592653589793238.....). All
> the decimal places mean that pi is what is called an 'irrational'
> number. That's rational from ratio, not reason. It can't be represented
> by a fraction. Therefore, if the diameter is 10 cubits, then the
> circumference is 31.4159..etc.. If the circumference is 30 cubits, the
> diameter must be 9.5493... cubits. No way around it. :)
> --
>
> --
> --Bill Yates
> --wtyates@vcnet.com
> --wtyates@aol.com
> --http://www.vcnet.com/wtyates/wtyates.html
PI is 3 to one significant figure.
There are numbers in the Bible which one has to ask questions
about, perhaps because they are used symbolically or to give a
deliberately grandiose effect - e.g., some of the sizes of armies or
monetary amounts in Chronicles. But this approximate value of pi is
simply that - an approximation.
(EN PASSANT, Roman engineers used 3 - 1/8 for pi. They knew
that 3 - 1/7 is closer, but eighths are easier to work with.)
George Murphy