During my primary
education, the number
22/7 surfaced frequently. In
absence of a
calculator or decent
memory, we were told to use 22/7 as an
approximation for
pi. While moderately useful in simple
geometric calculations, 22/7 is only
accurate to two
decimal places. This frustrated the hell out of me, and so, instead of listening to the
teacher like i should've, i spent an entire
mathematics class looking for a better
rational approximation of pi. Admittedly, the
method I used as a ten year-old was a tad
rudimentary. I think i had just reached triple digits before giving up.
Flash forward 8 years and I finally bothered to code a
c program for determining rational approximations of
floats.
pi
22 / 7 (2)*
355 / 113 (6)
86953 / 27678 (7)
e
19 / 7 (2)
87 / 32 (3)
878 / 323 (4)
sqrt(2)
99 / 70 (4)
577 / 408 (5)
8119 / 5741 (7)
* decimal places correct