Archimedes Approximation of Pi

This applet shows how Archimedes used area approximations to estimate the value for pi. Move the slider for r to change the radius of the circle and move the slider for n to change the number sides on the polygons.

This is a Java Applet created using GeoGebra from www.geogebra.org - it looks like you don't have Java installed, please go to www.java.com

What do you notice about the area of the inner polygon compared to the area of the circle?
What do you notifce about the area of the outer polygon compared to the area of the cirlce?
Why does this relationship occur?

Brett Myrup, 4 December 2013, Created with GeoGebra