Why Is there No Equation for the Perimeter of an Ellipse?
- Episode aired Sep 5, 2020
- 21m
While there are simple equations for the area of a circle and an ellipse there is no equation for the perimeter of an ellipse. But there are ways to approximate it. Matt found a couple with ... Read allWhile there are simple equations for the area of a circle and an ellipse there is no equation for the perimeter of an ellipse. But there are ways to approximate it. Matt found a couple with his handy dandy laptop but he couldn't best Ramanujan. But it's best to use an infinite se... Read allWhile there are simple equations for the area of a circle and an ellipse there is no equation for the perimeter of an ellipse. But there are ways to approximate it. Matt found a couple with his handy dandy laptop but he couldn't best Ramanujan. But it's best to use an infinite series - which is actually what Pi is. So each ellipse has it's own value of Pi.