A History of π

A History of π is a 1971 non-fiction book by physicist Petr Beckmann that presents a layman's introduction to the concept of the mathematical constant Pi. ^[1]

Beckmann was a Czechoslovakian who fled the Communist regime to come to the United States; his dislike of authority gives A History of π a style that belies its dry title. For example, his chapter on the era following the classical age of ancient Greece is titled "The Roman Pest",^[2] he calls the Catholic Inquisition the act of "insane religious fanatic,"; and he says that people who question public spending on scientific research are "intellectual cripples who drivel about 'too much technology' because technology has wounded them with the ultimate insult: They can't understand it any more."

References

See also

• History of Pi

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