The heavens declare the Glory of God... [AND]
The law of the Lord is perfect.
(I didn't catch the previous discussion about liberalism)
At 05:11 AM 9/2/96 -0400, you wrote:
>
>in my day, girls weren't encouraged to study math. So your exhortation to
>go back to geometry 101 is useless... never had it. so what am I doing on
>a scientific bbs, you ask? trying to learn to see things a little
>differently, and beginning to realize why highly educated people stumble
>on the Bible, why so many slide into "liberal interpretation" of
>Scripture, why so many are discouraged with trying to understand God. I
>wonder if the Word would be distorted if I were to suggest that it is hard
>for a rich man - rich in knowledge as well as material things - to enter
>the kingdom...
>
>Juli
>
>
>
>
>On Sun, 1 Sep 1996, Murphy wrote:
>
>> William 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
>>
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