An Artist's Rendition of Solomon's Molten Sea" : image from the Jewish Encyclopedia 1901-06
The Bible's description of this "molten sea" has led some people to speculate that it could define the mathematical constant "pi", or 'π', whose value is approximately 3.14159265...
"Did the Temple of Solomon Define Pi in the Bible?" explains how this works, and whether any US states have attempted to use the Bible to define pi. It's my latest article in Decoded Science.
"Did the Temple of Solomon Define Pi in the Bible?" explains how this works, and whether any US states have attempted to use the Bible to define pi. It's my latest article in Decoded Science.
Promoting my "Pi for King Solomon" Article
As always, both DeHaan Services ("King Solomon, Pi and the Molten Sea") and my Xanga blog ("Was King Solomon Wise about Math?") publicize this article.
One Writing Tip as Wise as Solomon
It's a bit too boastful to say that my writing tip could compete with Solomon's wisdom. Go read Proverbs (in the Bible) to see what Solomon had to say about wisdom.
The Decoded Science team was brainstorming online about finding Biblical themes for some science articles. This business about calculating pi is, of course, one of the simpler math puzzles in the Bible.
It's also mentioned in popular literature and urban myth; and my article refers to those situations too.
That's all beside the point of my writing tip, which is to suggest that you avoid making the mistake allows us to be confused by the Bible's report about King Solomon's cast-metal basin.
The problem is that the Biblical story gives too much detail, and also too little.
From the math standpoint, it's not necessary to report both the circumference and diameter of a circle. They are always in a ratio of pi-to-one. The Bible gave too much detail, because it reported both.
Clearly one or the other value was rounded off in the Bible story. Simply saying the diameter was "about so long" would have saved our confusion.
So today's writing tip is to say what you need to say once, but admit it when you're not perfectly accurate. Future generations may thank you for it.
The Decoded Science team was brainstorming online about finding Biblical themes for some science articles. This business about calculating pi is, of course, one of the simpler math puzzles in the Bible.
It's also mentioned in popular literature and urban myth; and my article refers to those situations too.
That's all beside the point of my writing tip, which is to suggest that you avoid making the mistake allows us to be confused by the Bible's report about King Solomon's cast-metal basin.
The problem is that the Biblical story gives too much detail, and also too little.
From the math standpoint, it's not necessary to report both the circumference and diameter of a circle. They are always in a ratio of pi-to-one. The Bible gave too much detail, because it reported both.
Clearly one or the other value was rounded off in the Bible story. Simply saying the diameter was "about so long" would have saved our confusion.
So today's writing tip is to say what you need to say once, but admit it when you're not perfectly accurate. Future generations may thank you for it.
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