Pi From Toothpicks

by dan95 in Workshop > Science

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Pi From Toothpicks

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Approximate Pi using toothpicks!

What You Need

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1) Ruler

2) T ruler

3) L-square ruler

4) Pencil

5) Calculator

6) Toothpicks

7) Big sheet of paper

Prepare the sheet.

The toothpick is 6.5cm long. In the sheet draw horizontal lines every 6.5cm (one toothpick).

Theory

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Do the Experiment

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Count the toothpicks you have. I have 190 toothpicks.

Throw the toothpicks over the sheet and try to distribute them randomly.

Count the number of toothpicks that are crossing a line. In my experiment there were 121 toothpicks crossing a line.

Divide twice the total number of toothpicks by the number of toothpicks crossing a line.

A = 2 x total / crossing = 2 x 190 / 121 = 3.140495868. Not bad!

That's it, there is the approximation of Pi using toothpicks. If you liked the Instructable make it favorite, also I would be happy if you vote for it in the PI/E Day Contest.