{"id":61948,"date":"2019-08-28T01:47:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T22:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=61948"},"modified":"2023-03-21T08:52:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T06:52:41","slug":"a-piece-of-biblical-pi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-piece-of-biblical-pi\/","title":{"rendered":"A Piece Of Biblical Pi"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[733,789,721],"acf":{"old_id":"61948","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34011,"related_cahpter":"294","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A little gematria with your geometry","content":"

\u201cThen he made the tank (yam) of cast metal, 10 cubits across from brim to brim, completely round; it was 5 cubits high, and it measured 30 cubits in circumference\u201d (verse 23).<\/span><\/p>\n

The above verse describes the dimensions of the Temple\u2019s giant water basin – about 20 feet across in contemporary terms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice anything wrong? We have a circle whose diameter is given as 10 cubits, and whose circumference is measured at 30. By modern (and even ancient Greek) standards, this is glaringly inaccurate.<\/span><\/p>\n

What, didn\u2019t the Biblical authors, sages – God Him\/Her\/Their self – know about pi – <\/span>\u03c0<\/b>?<\/span><\/p>\n

Reminder: the formula for figuring out circumference from diameter is c=\u03c0d : the circumference (the way around) is equal to the diameter (the way across) times the number \u03c0, which is equal to 3.14159\u2026 (etc – goes on forever\u2026).<\/span><\/p>\n

There are several ways to \u201cresolve\u201d this crisis. First, many claim that the text is simply using round numbers. They wouldn\u2019t have said the tank was 10 cubits from brim to brim, and the circumference was 31.4159\u2026 cubits. Though, they easily could have said 31 and a half cubits, and we would have known they were close.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another interpretation was that they were measuring the inside, and the rim of the brim had some thickness. The text indeed later (verse 26) says that it’s width was a handbreadth (1\/6 of a cubit). But then then the diameter was measured from the inside, and the circumference from the outside – why? It’s possible, but a stretch.<\/span><\/p>\n

My favorite resolution of this conundrum is to look at the text itself. The Hebrew describing that 30 cubit circumference says: .\u05d5\u05e7\u05d5\u05d4 [\u05d5\u05b0\u05e7\u05b8\u05d5] \u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05bc\u05b8\u05bd\u05d0\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e1\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 You\u2019ll notice there is a word there in square brackets. This indicates there is a discrepancy between the word as read (\u201ckeri\u201d) and the word as written (\u201cketiv\u201d). The word is <\/span>kav<\/span><\/i>, which means \u201cline\u201d (or as the translation has it: \u201cit measured\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

The word as it is written is \u05e7\u05d5\u05d4 (no vowels – since it is not read), and it is read \u05e7\u05b8\u05d5. Why is this relevant? Let us remember that all Hebrew letters also have number equivalents. The \u201cscience\u201d of these alpha-numeric equivalencies (and I use the word \u201cscience\u201d advisedly) is known as <\/span>gematria<\/span><\/i>. For instance aleph=1, bet=2, and so one, with kof=100. So the numeric value of the word in question as written equals 111 (100 + 6 + 5), while the letters for how it is read equal 106 (100 + 5). Still with us? Here\u2019s where it gets interesting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do the math: divide the written by the spoken, that is 111\u2215106, and what do you get? 1.047169\u2026 This is a correction factor. Multiply it by 3 (the ratio the chapter seems to suggest), and we get 3.14150, which is pi accurate to one part in a hundred thousand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The text itself is between a few hundred and a thousand years more recent than the events it describes. Could somebody (who knew their geometry – which almost any scribe would)\u00a0 have inserted a covert hint at a more accurate measurement? We\u2019ll probably never know.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61949,"id":61949,"title":"1kings7-pi","filename":"1kings7-pi.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings7-pi.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-piece-of-biblical-pi\/1kings7-pi\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings7-pi","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61948,"date":"2019-08-27 22:47:01","modified":"2019-08-27 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