Circumference pi, is represented by the Greek letter . The first few decimal digits of the numerical value of are 3.141592653589793 ... Pi is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter : Or, equivalently, as the ratio of the circumference to twice the radius. The above formula can be rearranged to solve for the circumference: The use of the mathematical constant is ubiquitous in mathematics, engineering, and science. In "Measurement of a Circle" written circa 250 BCE, Archimedes showed that this ratio (, since he did not use the name ) was greater than 3 but less
Earth's circumference determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance and proposed the nautical mile as one minute or one-sixtieth () of one degree of latitude. As one degree is of a circle, one minute of arc is of a circle – such that the polar circumference of the Earth would be exactly 21,600 miles. Gunter used Snell's circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude. In 1791, the French Academy of Sciences selected