On Mon, 3 Aug 1998 09:14:20 -0500, Brendan Frost wrote:
[...]
BF>P.S. for Bible infallibilistes---where does the Bible
>give its notoriously incorrect definition of pi as 3?
This false argument has been around for decades. A recent example
is Plimer:
"In I Kings 7:23, an altar font in Solomon's Temple was ten cubits
across and thirty cubits around. This means that the mathematical
constant pi is exactly 3. All school children know that pi is not 3 but
3.14159 and there is nothing to suggest that the Hebrew author was
approximating. If pi is equal to exactly 3, then no machine,
aeroplane, ship, motor vehicle etc. could be designed or would
operate. The Bible's mathematics is consistent and in II Chronicles
4:2, we also read that the mathematical constant pi is exactly 3 is
exactly 3. There are only two possible alternatives. Either the Bible
is wrong and that pi is equal to 3.14159 or that the biblical pi is
only approximate. Accordingly the Bible must be in error." (Plimer
I.R., "Telling lies for God," 1994, pp17-18)
Plimer's assertion that "there is nothing to suggest that the Hebrew
author was approximating" is absurd. And his claim that "pi is not 3
but 3.14159" is simply false. The author *had* to be approximating
since pi is an irrational number and even "3.14159" is an
approximation. Indeed, *no* value of pi could be given that was
not an approximation.
Plimer's other error is his implicit assumption that the Bible teaches
that "the mathematical constant pi is exactly 3". This is again simply
false. Nowhere does the Bible teach that "pi is exactly 3".
My Bible footnotes say that either the dimensions given were an
approximation, or that the measurements were not taken taken
from the same positions on the rim:
"7:23 Sea of cast Metal This enormous reservoir of water
corresponded to the bronze basin made for the tabernacle (see Ex
30:17-21; 38 8). Its water was used by the priests for ritual-cleansing
(2Ch 4 6). third cubits. Technically speaking, this should be 31.416
cubits because of the ten-cubit- diameter of the circular top. Thirty
may be a round number here, or perhaps the measurement was taken
a bit below the rim or on the inside circumference (see v. 26)."
(Barker K., ed, "The NIV Study Bible," 1985, p483)
Personally I favour the "round number" (ie. approximation)
explanation, for the following reasons:
1) There is no evidence (at least that I am aware of) that complex
fractions and decimals (let alone pi) were known to the ancient
Hebrews of ca. 1,000 BC, which is when this took place. With the
limited mathematics they had then, ratio of the circumference to the
diameter of a circle would have to be expressed in whole numbers.
Indeed, it was only in the 3rd Century BC that Archimedes (287-
212 bc), worked out the approximate value of pi:
"Pi, Greek letter (p) used in mathematics as the symbol for the ratio
of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Its value is
approximately 22/7, or, more accurately, 3.14159...the Greek
mathematician Archimedes correctly asserted that the value was
between 3 10/70 and 3 10/71" (Singer J. & Berggren L., "Pi,"
Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright (c) 1993 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation)
The ancient Hebrews of 1,000 BC were an agrarian people with
limited technology and they had to import craftsmen from other
nations to build the temple that this verse refers to. The context
indicates that the builder of the dish was one "Huram" of "Tyre "a
craftsman in bronze....highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of
bronze work." (1Kings 7:13-14). As happens today with non-
technical house owners commissioning a skilled architect, it is likely
that King Solomon just gave approximate specifications of diameter
10 and circumference 30 to Huram and he built it as close to that as
he could.
2) Pi is an irrational number, so whatever measurement used would
be an approximation:
"With computers, the value has been figured to more than 100
million decimal places, although this has no practical value. The
ratio is actually an irrational number, so the decimal places could go
on infinitely."(Singer J. & Berggren L., "Pi," Microsoft (R) Encarta.
Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1993
Funk & Wagnall's Corporation).
It is therefore both unreasonable and lacking in historical insight for
critics to argue that the Bible teaches that pi = 3, and therefore it is
not infallible, and therefore it is not from God. If the Bible actually
had a statement that pi = 3 then they would have a case. But it
doesn't and they don't.
Steve
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Stephen E (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ sejones@ibm.net
3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ senojes@hotmail.com
Warwick 6024 ->*_,--\_/ Phone +61 8 9448 7439
Perth, West Australia v "Test everything." (1Thess 5:21)
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