Charles L. Dodgson's geometric approach to arctangent relations for pi

DOI10.1006/HMAT.1993.1013MaRDI QIDQ2367149zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Francine F. Abeles

Publication date 15 December 1993

Published in Historia Mathematica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1006/hmat.1993.1013

zbMATH Keywords

arctangent relationscircle squaringEuclidean constructions

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) History of number theory (11-03) Euclidean geometries (general) and generalizations (51M05)

Review text

This is a historic analysis of the work of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) aimed at the would-be circle squarers at the end of the 19th century. Dodgson didn't want to involve himself in the details of each argument. Instead, he devised a method whereby each novice circle-squarer could convince himself of the futility of his ``original method. Dodgson introduced a method to compute approximations for \(\pi\) that was both efficient and simpler than the prevailing methods using Machin's and Gregory's series.

Recommendations

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Cites work

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3349749 (Why is no real title available?)
• On Arccotangent Relations for &#960
• The Arithmetic-Geometric Mean and Fast Computation of Elementary Functions
• The Chronology of PI

Cited in

(8)

• John Machin and Robert Simson on inverse-tangent series for
• On the derivation of Machin-like arctangent identities for computing Pi ()
• A `lost' chapter in the calculation of : Baron Zach and MS Bodleian 949
• A new form of the Machin-like formula for \(\pi\) by iteration with increasing integers
• Charles L. Dodgson’s Work on Trigonometry
• Some remarks about a formula of Charles Dodgson
• Alice’s adventures in inverse tan land – mathematical argument, language and proof
• Proof Without Words: An Arctangent Identity of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

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