tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2342742228702877343.post2173177544056978657..comments2024-02-11T19:31:25.745+00:00Comments on The Yorkist Age: Why Henry IV faced a credit crunch...Brian Wainwrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16867772590464992131noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2342742228702877343.post-27315555976614364142012-03-16T07:33:04.396+00:002012-03-16T07:33:04.396+00:00Apropos of nothing, I learned the origin of the te...Apropos of nothing, I learned the origin of the term "square the circle" a dew weeks ago in a simply delightful Paul Strathern speculative history called "The Artist, The Philosopher, and The Warrior" about the friendship between Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli and the dark influence that their interactions with Cesare Borgia had on their lives and works.<br /><br />I highly recommend it and Strathern's delightful "Philosophers/Authors in 90 Minutes" series.<br /><br />Anyway, da Vinci's notebooks include numerous attempts to solve the mathematical problem of "squaring the circle", that it is to find an exact geometric formula to define a square with a perimeter equal to the perimeter of any given circle.<br /><br />It can't be done as it turns out because Pi is a transcendental/irrational number and you can only work out an equivalency based on Pi, to wit l = (2 * Pi * r) ^ 1/2. (That's about as clean as I can write out the formula in HTML, sorry.JJFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11948014831964413383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2342742228702877343.post-81298031620524900682008-11-08T18:11:00.000+00:002008-11-08T18:11:00.000+00:00Ah, lovely Tewkesbury Abbey! This is a nice atmosp...Ah, lovely Tewkesbury Abbey! This is a nice atmospheric time of year, you can sometimes have it almost to yourself. Wonderful place!Brian Wainwrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16867772590464992131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2342742228702877343.post-30583421012912105952008-11-08T11:18:00.000+00:002008-11-08T11:18:00.000+00:00Great post Brian! Really interesting. And I really...Great post Brian! Really interesting. And I really think we sould use the word 'ept' more often lol!<BR/><BR/>By the way, I visited Thomas Despenser at Tewkesbury yesterday (as well as Hugh of course) and said hello to him for you!Jules Frusherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08207281934232383811noreply@blogger.com