Excerpt from Bibliography on the Polemic Problem: What Is the Value
Cyclometry is the science of circle measuring; a quadrature is the making of a square equivalent to a given circle; rectification of the circle is the finding of a straight line equal to the circumference of a given circle. These problems are one and the same in the sequel, and have engaged the attention of geometers from the earliest ages. The object of this paper is not to discuss the various methods devised to solve the famous problems, but to give a brief account of some of the quite numerous productions on the subject, and this in answer to many inquiries from all parts of the world, as to what has been written on the perplexing problems.
The secret key to the problems is the true value of the ratio of the diameter to the circumference of any circle, which ratio is denominated by the Greek letter ? (pi), the initial of the word periphereia, the circumference of a circle.
The first recorded instances of a value of ? are found in the Bible. One used by King Solomon in the making of vessels for the Temple:
"And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from one brim to the other: it was mu round all about, and his height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." [I Kings VII, 23.]
"Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." [II Chron. II, 2.]
The translation of Julia E. Smith gives these texts slightly different, the latter of which is as follows:
"And he will make the molten sea ten by the cubit from its lip to its lip, rounded round about; and five by the cubit its height; and a cord thirty by the cubit will surround it round about."
King Solomon's ratio (3) can be explained only that he measured the diameter from the outside, and the circumference on the inside, of the cord encircling the top of the molten sea.
There is another obscure allusion to a value of - found in the name Eliezer (which in Hebrew numerals is 318), the steward of Abram's house (Gen. XV, 2); this is a circumference value to a diameter 100.
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