A quiz on Pi

Quoting William Schaff: 'Probably no symbol in mathematics has evoked as much mystery, romanticism, misconception and human interest as the number pi.'

A multiple-choice quiz by timence. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
timence

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
60,229

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
5568

Last 3 plays: Guest 174 (5/10), Guest 216 (6/10), Guest 81 (6/10).

This quiz has 2 formats: you can play it as a or as shown below.
Scroll down to the bottom for the answer key.

1. In September, 1999, the value of Pi was calculated to a record number of decimal places. How many? Hint

206 billion

206 thousand

206 million

206 trillion

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2. How is Pi defined? Hint

The ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference

The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its radius

The ratio of the radius of a circle to its circumference

The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter

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3. Pi is best described as what type of number? Hint

a rational number

an irrational number

an integer

an irregular fraction

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4. Pi rounded to 9 decimals is: Hint

3.141592654

3.142592654

3.141952654

3.142952654

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5. True or false: there is a 'pi day'?

True

False

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6. Which of these fractions is closest to Pi? Hint

22 over 7

45 over 16

21 over 8

5 over 3

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7. Pi is named after a letter of which alphabet?

Answer: (One Word)

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8. Which of the following is FALSE? Hint

There is no zero in the first 31 digits of Pi

Pi has been memorized to more than 120,000 digits

The Babylonians found the first known value of Pi

A early, crude calculation of Pi appears in the Bible

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9. If you multiply Pi by the square of the radius of a circle, what do you get? Hint

The circle's area

The circle's diameter

The circle's circumference

The circle's radius

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10. Which number appears most in the first 6 billion decimal places of Pi? Hint

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In September, 1999, the value of Pi was calculated to a record number of decimal places. How many?

Answer: 206 billion

To be exact, Dr. Kanada of the University of Tokyo calculated Pi to 206,158,430,000 places!

2. How is Pi defined?

Answer: The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter

Sounds pretty straight-forward, but it has evoked a great deal of interest by millions of mathematicians all over the world.

3. Pi is best described as what type of number?

Answer: an irrational number

Pi is an irrational number, this means that its decimals keep going and going, it can not be written as a fraction.

4. Pi rounded to 9 decimals is:

Answer: 3.141592654

The 'pi' button on any calculator should give you this.

5. True or false: there is a 'pi day'?

Answer: True

March 14th, held at the Exploratorium in San Francisco (March 14 is 3-14 in USA). There is also a 'pi approximation day', July 22nd!

6. Which of these fractions is closest to Pi?

Answer: 22 over 7

7. Pi is named after a letter of which alphabet?

Answer: Greek

It is equivalent to the English alphabet's letter 'p'. It is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.

8. Which of the following is FALSE?

Answer: Pi has been memorized to more than 120,000 digits

In October, 2006, Akira Haraguchi set a new world record, reciting Pi to 100,000 decimal places. It is true that the Bablyonians were the first known estimators of Pi, using the value 25 over 8. The 32nd decimal of Pi is zero and it is not seen before this. And yes, the Bible does have a crude Pi calculation, I Kings 7,23: And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about.

This values Pi as 3.

There is also reference to King Solomon's brass bowl, which gives a ratio of circumference to diameter.

9. If you multiply Pi by the square of the radius of a circle, what do you get?

Answer: The circle's area

In other words: area of a circle = pi r squared! (remember high school maths?)

10. Which number appears most in the first 6 billion decimal places of Pi?

Answer: 1

1 occurs 600,033,260 times, 2 occurs 599,999,169 times, 5 occurs 600,017,176 times. There is no variation here from expected 'random' behaviour. Hope you learnt something about good old Pi!

Source: Author timence

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor rossian before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

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