How Did Zu Chongzhi Work Out π?
祖冲之是如何推算出圆周率的?
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我生活在中国南朝时期。我可是个数学明星哦,因为我精确地推算出圆周率,在当时这算是世界领先水平了。
I lived in the Southern Dynasty of ancient China. Well, I was sort of a maths star at that time, because I calculated the accurate figure of π ahead of the whole world.
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古古的数学一直很差。唉!真让她头疼。为什么祖冲之能在那么早的年代就推算出圆周率呢?他是不是智商超凡?古古怀着强烈的好奇心,来到了南朝。
Gugu was very poor at maths. It's a real headache! How could Zu Chongzhi have calculated π as early as the Southern Dynasty? Was it because he had an extraordinarily high IQ? With this question in mind, Gugu returned to the Southern Dynasty.
(G=Gugu Z=Zu Chongzhi)
G: How do you do, Mr. Zu? I’ve heard about you long ago.
Z: How do you do, young man? Nice to meet you.
G: Nice to meet you, too. How did you calculate π? I’m quite curious about it.
Z: I used the cyclotomic method. It’s very complicated. Do you want to learn that?
G: Oh, no. I’d rather not. I’m no mathematician materical.
Z: Haw –haw … I didn’t think that there’s anyone who could not fall in love with maths.
G: Did you invent that method?
Z: No, I didn’t. I learned it from another famous mathematician—Liu Hui.
G: But he didn’t come up with a figure as accurate as yours.
Z: No. I found that there’s something wrong with his conclusion, so I improved it.
G: And so you’ve outdone your master.
Z: For that it took me a lot of effort.
G: I can imagine that. It must be a hard job!
Z: Truly it is. I’ve calculated it for like millions of times before I figured it out. Ugh…
G: You surely have done a great job!
古古 : 先生,您好,我早就听说您的鼎鼎大名了。
祖冲之: 你好,年轻人。见到你很高兴。
古古 : 我也很高兴见到您。您是怎样推算出圆周率的?我很想知道。
祖冲之: 我采用的是割圆的办法。十分复杂,你要学吗?
古古 : 唔,不。我不是学数学的料,还是不要学了吧。
祖冲之: 哈哈,当今世界居然还有不喜欢数学的人。
古古 : 那您的方法是独创的吗?
祖冲之: 不是,我是从著名的数学家刘徽那里学来的。
古古 : 可是他没有您算得精确啊。
祖冲之: 是的,我发现刘徽的结论不对,所以我把他的方法改进了一下。
古古 : 青出于蓝胜于蓝。
祖冲之: 但是这个过程也耗费了我大量的精力。
古古 : 可以想象!当数学家好辛苦啊!
祖冲之: 是呀!我运算了好几百万次呢。好累啊!
古古 : 厉害!厉害!真佩服您呀!