william shanks was the english mathematician who calculated the value of pi to 707.
william shanks was the english mathematician who calculated the value of pi to 707.
what english mathematician calculated the value of pi to 707?
william shanks
in the palais de la découverte (a science museum in paris) there is a circular room known as the "pi room". on its wall are inscribed 707 digits of . the digits are large wooden characters attached to the dome-like ceiling. the digits were based on an 1853 calculation by english mathematician william shanks, which included an error beginning at the 528th digit. the error was detected in 1946 and corrected in 1949.
pi
when caledonian's senior management began evaluating competing state-of-the-art jet aircraft types as potential replacements for the britannia in its long-haul role in the mid-1960s, the boeing 707 320c series was favoured because of its superior range and payload compared with its contemporary rivals. caledonian planned to place an order directly with boeing for two convertible 707-320cs that could either be operated in an all-passenger or all-cargo configuration and featured a large freight door on the left-hand side of the forward fuselage to enable carriage of main deck cargo when configured as a freighter. the initial order needed to be placed before the end of 1965 to secure the first aircraft's delivery in may 1967, just in time for that year's summer season. to avoid paying the 14% tax the uk government had imposed on imported, new foreign aircraft to protect competing british models, caledonian needed to persuade the bot that there was no equivalent home-grown alternative. it also cited the bot's earlier decision to approve boac's application for an import duty waiver on two new boeing 707-336cs as a precedent. however, the bot was unwilling to grant caledonian the requested tax exemption and was instead assisting vickers in selling it the super vc10, the stretched version of the original "standard" vc10 and britain's answer to the all-american 707 and dc-8. despite the bot's and vickers's best efforts, caledonian's senior management remained unconvinced that the super vc10 was a worthy competitor of the 707. the results of its evaluation had shown that the super vc10 was not competitive with the 707, in terms of amortisation, resale value and availability of finance due to its small production run. apart from its insufficient range to fly non-stop from the uk to the us west coast with a viable payload, significantly smaller cargo capacity and lack of passenger/freighter convertibility, the super vc10 was also heavier than the 707. this increased fuel consumption. in its ongoing negotiations with the bot, caledonian cited these findings as evidence that there was no suitable british alternative to the 707 for the envisaged role. the bot however continued to insist that irrespective of caledonian's specific requirements, the 707 and super vc10 were equivalent and, based on this assessment, refused the airline's application for an import duty waiver. meanwhile, the civil engine production hold-up caused by the vietnam war resulted in the first aircraft arriving in july rather than may 1967. this did not allow its utilisation for that year's full summer charter season precluding a profitable operation. these circumstances compelled caledonian to lease out its first 707 to the flying tiger line until may 1968. to facilitate the 707's smooth introduction into service the following summer, caledonian required access at its gatwick base to its second aircraft (ordered in 1966) for as much as winter 1967-68 as possible to complete aircrew and ground support training in time for the following summer season. this was not possible as long as the standoff between the airline and the bot continued. to avoid having an expensive, new jet aircraft sit idly on the ground in the absence of a timely resolution, the airline's senior management put in place a contingency plan to transfer the 707 training programme to shannon airport as the bot had no jurisdiction over the republic of ireland. in the event, the contingency plan was not activated as a compromise was reached in early december 1967 that resulted in the bot granting caledonian's request for an import duty exemption. this permitted the airline to import the aircraft into the uk free of duty, as long as non-stop sectors outside the super vc10's economically viable range accounted for a significant share of its operations. it enabled caledonian to take delivery of its second 707, a 399c series aircraft bearing the registration g-avtw ("tango whisky"), at gatwick on 30 december 1967. the first aircraft — boeing 707-399c g-avka ("kilo alpha") — joined the second at gatwick on 1 june 1968, following the end of the flying tigers lease. both began operating a series of charters, carrying 15,000 passengers from los angeles and oakland to the uk.
caledonian airways