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Didn't some state once pass a law setting pi equal to 3 ?


     Indiana House Bill #246 was introduced on 18 January 1897, and
     referred to the Committee on Canals "midst general cheerfulness."
     The text states, "the ratio of the diameter and circumference is
     as five-fourths to four", which makes pi 3.2 (not 3), but there
     are internal contradictions in the bill as well as contradictions
     with reality.  The author was a mathematical crank.  The bill was
     passed by the state House on 5 February, but indefinitely tabled
     by the state Senate, in part thanks to the fortuitous presence
     on other business of a Purdue professor of mathematics.

     For details, including an annotated text of the bill, read the
     article by D. Singmaster in "The Mathematical Intelligencer" v7
     #2, pp 69-72.



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