The Pi Trivia Game

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Finally this is your chance to pay tribute to the magnificent transcendental number that we have all grown to love! Here are 25 questions (given to you 5 at a time), picked randomly from my pi question database. Get ready for the thrill of your lifetime, the ultimate challenge, The Pi Trivia Game!

1. What is the earliest known reference to pi?

the Rosetta Stone, inscribed in approximately 200 BC
a Middle Kingdom papyrus scroll, written around 1650 BC by Ahmes the scribe
Euclid's Elements, written in the 3rd century BC
The Uselessness of Pi and its Irrational Friends, written in 1994 AD
the Bible

2. Pi is transcendental. What does it mean for a number to be transcendental?

It is equal to the ratio of two integers.
It cannot be expressed as the solution of any polynomial with integer coefficients.
It is Ralph Waldo Emerson's favorite number.
Its square root is equal to -1.
Its decimal expansion is infinite in length.

3. For many years, it has been conjectured but unproven that pi is normal in base 10. What does normal mean?

Like any normal person, pi has two legs.
Blocks of digits of increasing size have a limit frequency of 1/10 for each of the digits (0 to 9).
Pi squared is a rational number.
People who like pi are normal.
The natural logarithm of pi taken to the tenth power is an integer.

4. The following are all mnemonics for remembering the first few digits of pi (the number of letters in each word corresponds to a digit of pi). Which of these was written in 1995 by Michael Keith?

Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
in sacred truth and rigid spelling.
Numerical sprites elucidate
For me the lexicon's dull weight.
Now I, even I, would celebrate
In rhymes inapt, the great
Immortal Syracusan, rivaled nevermore,
Who in his wondrous lore,Passed on before,Left men his guidance
How to circles mensurate.
But a time I spent wandering in bloomy night; Yon tower, tinkling chimewise, loftily opportune.
Out, up, and together came sudden to Sunday rite,
The one solemnly off to correct plenilune.
How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics. All of thy geometry, Herr Planck, is fairly hard.
Poe, E. -
Near A Raven
Midnights so dreary, tired and weary,
Silently pondering volumes extolling all by-now obsolete lore.
During my rather long nap - the weirdest tap!
An ominous vibrating sound disturbing my chamber's antedoor.
"This", I whispered quietly, "I ignore".

5. It has been proven impossible to "square the circle." What does it mean to square the circle?

multiply a circle by itself
use a straightedge and compass to construct a square equal in area to a given circle
construct a square that perfectly circumscribes a circle
determine the value of pi squared
draw a circle with area equal to pi * (r squared)

eve@eveandersson.com