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      Home  >  Chess Research • Daily News  >  Who’s done it?

      Who’s done it?

      Inexplicable, Pi, Science


      Pi and source of circle stuns experts
      Daniel Bates
      June 19, 2008 12:00am

      It is – by any calculation – a creation stunning in its ingenuity.

      Carved out in a barley paddock, this 50 metre-wide pattern is said to be a pictorial representation of the first 10 digits of pi, one of the most fundamental symbols in mathematics.

      Believers in extra-terrestrials could argue it was made by mathematically minded aliens on a field trip to Earth.

      Sceptics will think it the work of humans with a fondness for figures and a penchant for puzzles.

      But whatever its origins, the experts say it is the most complex crop circle ever seen in Britain.

      The pattern appeared this month near Barbury Castle, an Iron Age hill fort above the village of Wroughton in Wiltshire.

      Initially, crop circle enthusiasts were stumped as to its meaning and even experts said it was mind-boggling.

      Then retired astrophysicist Mike Reed saw a photograph of it and made the mathematical link.

      He said the crop pattern clearly shows the first 10 digits of pi, which, many will remember from their schooldays.

      Here is the full article.

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      17 Comments

      1. Anonymous Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 6:52 pm

        Aliens from Massachusetts, Brooklyn, and Nevis & St. Kitt.

      2. Anonymous Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 7:12 pm

        It actually shows Pi to many more tens of places up to the accuracy of the outer circle. Why do a complicated method to show something much less- and why base 10? They could have done it to base 11 to confuse everyone.

      3. ebutaljib Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 7:17 pm

        This is exactly the proof that this a work of humans. There is absolutely no reason (and it is very unlikely) that aliens would use the same decimal system as we are using.

      4. Anonymous Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 7:40 pm

        I guess the counter argument is the aliens did it base 10 as they figured or knew that is what we use- ie they they have been watching us.

        However it is obviously a hoax- it is just done to get a big reaction. All crop circles are hoaxes in my opinion- I wouldn’t give it a second thought. It is like thinking aliens are green- man-made ideas relating to aliens.

        Just to correct the second comment- the circle will be very unlikely accurate to a factor of a millionth.

      5. e.t. Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 8:01 pm

        I did it!

      6. Marckus Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 8:06 pm

        Aliens are trying to KILL ME with crop circles and advanced math!

        FIDE, the KGB, and the girl scouts are behind the Alien plot!

        Call Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice to arbitrate a truce!

        Please don’t KILL ME!

      7. i Lind Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 8:34 pm

        The last digit is wrong, it should be 3, but is obviously rounded to a 4. The picture gives 3.141592654. Pi is 3.14159265358979323846264… Aliens would not make this error..

      8. Anonymous Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 8:56 pm

        i lind- they did that on purpose- they rounded it up to 10 digits- so as the 10th and 11th were 35 they rounded it up to 4.

      9. EJ Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 9:15 pm

        So, what does it say about me if I had trouble deciphering it because I was thinking in base-12?

      10. nuclear experiment Reply
        June 20, 2008 at 9:24 pm

        “EJ said…
        So, what does it say about me if I had trouble deciphering it because I was thinking in base-12?”

        It would mean that you have 12 fingers and 12 toes like most people who live in Chernobyl.

        http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jan2004/MissChernobyl2004.htm

      11. Anonymous Reply
        June 21, 2008 at 2:50 am

        Y’all a bunch of geeks

      12. Anonymous Reply
        June 21, 2008 at 5:58 am

        Those circles were made by satanic sect (mason’s related) which rule in west countries. It’s a part of a grat conspiracy. We all, Orthodox Christians, know that.

      13. Anonymous Reply
        June 21, 2008 at 2:35 pm

        I think that we are just going round in circles here.

      14. KWRegan Reply
        June 21, 2008 at 5:53 pm

        The ETs also understand the human convention of using 3 dots to indicate an unending sequence. That’s what the three graduated circles at the outer end of the path represent. I.e. the crop circle represents in its entirety:

        “3.141592654…”

        Indeed that interpretation is confirmed by the article here.

        However, this stamps rounding up the last digit as wrong, because it misleads about how the sequence continues. The decimal sequence does not have a second “4” so soon but rather continues 3.14159265358979… The next digit is a “3” so it would have been fine to put the “…” there. Or it could have been shortened to “3.14159265…”

        I therefore deduce that the circle’s creators do not have a proper scientific sense of precise exposition. Seems all too human to me…:-)

      15. Anonymous Reply
        June 22, 2008 at 4:43 pm

        Paul did it! He is a pie expert!

      16. road kill Reply
        June 22, 2008 at 6:13 pm

        I like pie. Chocolate Cream to be precise.

      17. gabor Reply
        June 26, 2008 at 9:52 pm

        Of course the aliens. You mean you don’t believe in the aliens? Here I am some years ago, when my job was to collect aliens from UFO crashes 🙂
        I don’t know whether the inserted picture here will come out or not, but let me try it:

        Click

      Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

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