Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

An Earthly Approximation of Pi

It occurred to me last evening that if one happens to know the length of a one degree arc of the equator of planet earth, as well as the angular speed of planet earth...

Yes, I know, the obvious question is, Who in their right mind would keep that sort of information rattling around off the top of their head? And the answer is, Me.

Can I continue now? Please?

Thank you. As I was saying, if you know the length of a one degree arc of the equator (L), the angular speed of earth (S), the number of hours in a day (T), and the radius of the earth (R), you can come up with a very reasonable approximation for the number PI as follows:

PI = LST/2R.

I tried out this magnificent formula last night:

PI = 69.1709 x 15 x 24 / 7928 = 3.14175, which is mighty close to the actual value.

I woke up this morning and tried it again, in honor of Pi Day.

PI = 69.1709 x 15 x 23 / 7928 = 3.011.

What? That can't be right!

Which leads us, of course, to the inevitable conclusion that Pi Day should never be allowed to coincide with Daylight Savings Day.

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