Question

How to plot irrational no. on number line like pie

Answer 1

A common approximation for pi is 3.14, so you could just draw a number line and label pi like this: <---|---------|---------|----> 2 3 4 ^ | pi But that shows where pi _is_, more or less. If you want to show how to _find_ it, you might do this: Take a circle whose diameter is one, and 'set' it on a number line so that it rests on zero. . . . . . . . . <---------|--------------------------> 0 Cut the circle at this point, and roll it out flat, so that one end remains at zero. . . . . . . . . . <---------|-------------------------------> 0 ^ | ? How far will the other end reach? On the other hand, it's possible to compute pi by summing various infinite series. For example, it's true that pi/4 = 1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ... which means that pi = 4(1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ...) = 4 - 4/3 + 4/5 - 4/7 + ... So you could draw a number line, start at 0, then move 4 units to the right, then 4/3 units to the left, then 4/5 units to the right, then 4/7 units to the left, then 4/9 units to the right, ... and so on, until you get tired or the class period ends. -4/7<---- --------->+4/5 -4/3<----------------- ------------------------->4 <---------|-------------------------------> 0 With each move, you jump past pi, so pi will always be between the last two moves that you made. The more jumps you make, the closer you'll get to the actual position. -4/7<---- --------->+4/5 -4/3<----------------- ------------------------->4 ---------|------------------------------- 0 [ ] pi is somewhere in here [ ] somewhere in here [ ] somewhere in here [ ] somewhere in here