# Why Is Pi So Important?

In mathematics, $$\pi$$ (Pi, the sixteenth alphabet in Greek script) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference and it’s diameter. It is a constant number which means that for all circles of all sizes the ratio will be the same. It is a irrational number which makes knowing its actual value practically impossible. Supercomputers have calculated its value for billions of places after the decimal point but it is an unending process. There are no sequence or repetition in the digits of the number and it continues to infinity.

The value of $$\pi$$ is taken as 3.14159265359 for mathematical calculations. Because of its irrationality, it is not possible to represent it perfectly as a fraction. However, 22/7 is the generally accepted fractional representation of $$\pi$$.
.So far it sounds rather ordinary, doesn’t it? Then what exactly is this fascination that people have over this number? Let us look at some of the other places where $$\pi$$ crops up. It’s not just circles

Where the value of $$\pi$$ is applicable. Even unrelated topics, such as finding relatively prime numbers use the formula of 6/$$\pi$$.

Coming out of maths, $$\pi$$ is found in natural phenomena too. It is present everywhere that has a circle, such as the disc of the sun, the eye’s pupil, the ripples created by the pebbles in water and even the universe as a whole. Yes, it can be used to figure out the spherical volume of the universe.

One of the most fascinating things about $$\pi$$ is its surprising relation to the meandering of rivers. The average sinuosity of all rivers all around the world is the value of $$\pi$$, that is 3.14. It means that on an average, the actual length of the rivers is 3.14 times the distance between the starting and the ending points of the river (if measured in a straight line).

Physics uses the concept of $$\pi$$ too. Energy waves, such as light and sound can be described with the help of $$\pi$$.

It is truly fascinating how $$\pi$$ appears everywhere in nature and the universe. That is the reason it has intrigued mathematicians across the centuries since it was discovered.