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The general Vieta-Wallis product for π

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Thomas J. Osler
Thomas J. Osler*
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, Rowan University, Glassboro NJ 08028 USA, email: [email protected]
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Extract

The two oldest representations for the number π are infinite product expansions. The first,

is due to Vieta in 1592. The second is Wallis's product dating from 1655:

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 89 , Issue 516 , November 2005 , pp. 371 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2004

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References

1. Vieta, F., Variorum de Rebus Mathematics Reponsorum Liber VII, (1593) in Opera Mathematica, (reprinted) Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, New York (1970) pp. 398–400 and 436–446.Google Scholar
2. Wallis, J., Computation of π by successive interpolations (1655) in Struik, D. J. (ed.) A source book in mathematics, 1200–1800, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts (1969) pp. 244–253.Google Scholar
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