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Oct 2023
41m 14s

That Time Indiana Tried to Change Pi

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About this episode

Pi itself is pretty ridiculous. This number -- the ratio of the circumference of any circle to the diameter of that circle -- appears to continue into infinity, with no predictable pattern. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore something even more ridiculous: that time in 1897 when an amateur mathematician named Edward J. Goodwin almost persuaded the state of Indiana to legally change the meaning of Pi. Tune in to hear how he would have got away with it, were it not for the accidental intervention of another guy who just happened to be in the room.

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