Article View: sci.astro
Article #4775Re: pi (was Re: Is lightvelocity accelerating?)
From: son3776
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 22:57
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 22:57
34 lines
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2666 bytes
DaveHatunen (hatunen@netcom.com) wrote: > In article <3kab8t$h4l@utdallas.edu>, <son3776@utdallas.edu> wrote: > [...] > >Draw a circle on the earth, cut through the ground to get the diameter, > >and you'll get C/D and pi. > Wrong. For two basic reasons. > 1. The earth is not a perfect sphere, so you cannot even theoretically > draw a perfect circle on even it's ideal surface. Yeah -- it's an "squashed sphere" . . . but considering the fact that it has a positive (and gradual) curvature, you CAN theoretically draw a perfect circle on it (that is if you neglect valley/mountain combinations and artificial constructs). > 2. The earth is a gravitating body, and the space in, around and near > it is not perfectly Euclidean. > Not even perfect measurements to infinitesimal precision will yield > exactly pi. But the mathematical computation of one of the several > infinite series will, carried out to infinity, yield pi. Considering that we can't detect any such curvature in spacetime because we ourselves are affected by the same curvature to such an extent that if we travel with a relative velocity of zero in relation to the drawn circle there won't be any noticeable distortions, we will measure pi (to a degree of accuracy). -- "Somewhere else the tea's getting cold." -- The Doctor
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X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: ff8cf,7d15a3c97705a5a5 X-Google-Attributes: gidff8cf,public X-Google-Thread: f44bc,7d15a3c97705a5a5 X-Google-Attributes: gidf44bc,public X-Google-Thread: 1038c2,7d15a3c97705a5a5 X-Google-Attributes: gid1038c2,public X-Google-Thread: f74ae,7d15a3c97705a5a5 X-Google-Attributes: gidf74ae,public X-Google-Thread: fa827,7d15a3c97705a5a5 X-Google-Attributes: gidfa827,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1995-03-20 17:40:56 PST Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!nntp.gmd.de!dearn!blekul11!ccsdec1.ufsia.ac.be!reks.uia.ac.be!idefix.CS.kuleuven.ac.be! Belgium.EU.net!EU.net!news.sprintlink.net!cs.utexas.edu!news.tamu.edu!news.utdallas.edu!not-for-mail From: son3776@utdallas.edu Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.skeptic,alt.sci.physics.new-theories,swnet.sci.astro,fj.sci.astro Subject: Re: pi (was Re: Is lightvelocity accelerating?) Followup-To: sci.astro,sci.skeptic,alt.sci.physics.new-theories,swnet.sci.astro,fj.sci.astro Date: 20 Mar 1995 16:57:02 -0600 Organization: The University of Texas at Dallas Lines: 34 Message-ID: <3kl17u$k1c@utdallas.edu> References: <3k1opb$6iq@utdallas.edu> <6Bmy2c2w200w@alcyone.darkside.com> <3kab8t$h4l@utdallas.edu> <hatunenD5pHyH.sE@netcom.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: infoserv.utdallas.edu NNTP-Posting-User: 5319 X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]