Sir Isaac Newton: The Game Changer!
Icon of Isaac Newton by Amethyst Studio from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)
When you heard Newton what is first thing that pops up to your mind? The first thing that comes to my mind is his iconic apple falling from a tree, symbolizing his insights into gravity and the laws of motion 🍎. Newton made up the rules about how things move and why objects are attracted to each other. This changed how we see the world around us and how things work. We know him since elementary school or even before that, making him one of the most known scientists in the world. it is his insights about gravity is the only one his contribution to the world? Nope, totally nope. This short blog will tell you one story of how amazing is Sir Isaac Newton and how he thinks will make you admire him even more, lets start!
Let's Start With π (Pi)
Pi is the ratio of the circumference of any circle to the diameter of that circle. Regardless of the circle's size, this ratio will always equal pi. In decimal form, the value of pi is approximately 3.14.
For thousand of years we used to calculate pi with drawing hexagonal inside circle and square outside circle, with this we know that pi length is less than 4 and greater than 3. On 250 BC archimedes improve the calculation by bisecting the hexagon to dodecagon resulting more accurate calculation which is pi length is less than 3.215 and greater than 3.106. To get more accuracy, the calculation of pi is calculated by bisecting n-gon inside and outside the circle, but with more bisect its harder and harder over time to calculate the pi length.
Newton and Binomial Theorem
Sir isaac newton found a way to calculate accurate pi on a n decimal place, when he was 23 years old on 1666 and at home due to quarantine of bubonic plague. Newton start with simple equation and end up to binomial theorem, while the rule of binomial theorem is only applied for positive integer, but newton questioning that rules and he tried it with negative integers and decimals. With help of calculus or what he called theory of fluxions he invented before, he found a way to calculate pi with less effort than before.
This is one of a lot of reasons why I admired Sir Isaac Newton, not only applying the rules he also brave enough to question it and extend it to the point it will break. He discover the groundbreaking way to calculate accurate pi, but he mostly known by his insights on gravity and laws of motions. But maybe for most of people this is the least interesting things that Newton discovered, showed that Newton is Genius among of Geniuses, because he invented a lot of groundbreaking things, discover way to calculate accurate pi look like a side achievement.
If you interested in this story, I fully recommend you watch this video by Veritasium, a lot of material in this blog is referenced from that video, happy watching!
