Calculating π

Ludolph van Ceulen spent a major part of his life calculating the numerical value of the mathematical constant &pi, using essentially the same methods as those employed by Archimedes some 1800 years earlier. He published a 20-decimal value in his 1596 book Van de Cirkel ('On the Circle'), later expanding this to 35 decimals. After his death, the 'Ludolphine number'

was engraved on his tombstone in Leiden. The tombstone was later lost, but has been restored in the year 2000.

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