A History of Pi

Book cover of A History of Pi (3rd ed.)
Author	Petr Beckmann
Language	English
Subject	Mathematics General Sciences History of mathematics
Publisher	Golem Press (1st, 2nd ed.) St. Martin's Press (3rd ed.) Hippocrene Books (Reprint ed.)
Publication date	1970
Publication place	United States
Pages	190 pages
ISBN	978-0-911762-07-5
OCLC	99082

A History of Pi (also titled A History of π) is a 1970 non-fiction book by Petr Beckmann that presents a layman's introduction to the concept of the mathematical constant pi (π).^[1]

Beckmann was a Czechoslovakian who fled the Communist regime to go to the United States. His dislike of authority gives A History of Pi a style that belies its dry title. For example, his chapter on the era following the classical age of ancient Greece is titled "The Roman Pest";^[2] he calls the Catholic Inquisition the act of "insane religious fanatic"; and he says that people who question public spending on scientific research are "intellectual cripples who drivel about 'too much technology' because technology has wounded them with the ultimate insult: 'They can't understand it any more.'"

Beckmann was a prolific scientific author who wrote several electrical engineering textbooks and non-technical works, founded Golem Press, which published most of his books, and published his own monthly newsletter, Access to Energy. In his self-published book Einstein Plus Two and in Internet flame wars, he claimed that the theory of relativity is incorrect.^[3]

A History of Pi was originally published as A History of π in 1970 by Golem Press. This edition did not cover any approximations of π calculated after 1946. A second edition, printed in 1971, added material on the calculation of π by electronic computers, but still contained historical and mathematical errors, such as an incorrect proof that there exist infinitely many prime numbers.^[4] A third edition was published as A History of Pi in 1976 by St. Martin's Press. It was published as A History of Pi by Hippocrene Books in 1990.^[5] The title is given as A History of Pi by both Amazon^[6] and by WorldCat.^[7]

1. Beckmann, Petr (1970), A History of π (1st ed.), Golem Press, p. 190, ISBN 0-911762-07-8
2. Beckmann, Petr (1971-01-01), A History of π (2nd ed.), Golem Press, p. 196, ISBN 0-911762-12-4
3. Beckmann, Petr (1976-07-15), A History of Pi (3rd ed.), St. Martin's Press, p. 208, ISBN 0-312-38185-9
4. Beckmann, Petr (1977), A History of π (4th ed.), Golem Press, p. 202, ISBN 0-911762-18-3
5. Beckmann, Petr (1982), A History of π (5th ed.), Golem Press, p. 202, ISBN 0-911762-18-3
6. Beckmann, Petr (1990-06-01), A History of Pi (Reprint ed.), Hippocrene Books, p. 200, ISBN 0-88029-418-3

• History of Pi