>From: "bivalve" <bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com>
>
>Another difficulty is that pi can be generated by relatively simple
>formulas from other sources. For >example, if I remember correctly, the
>probability of a stick of a certain length landing on a crack >when tossed
>onto a regular grid is a function of pi. Similar logic could thus be used
>to conclude >that divination using randomly tossed objects is an
>authoritative source of revelation.
>
Indeed, you do remember correctly. It's called Buffon's needle; see:
http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/reese/buffon/buffon.html
Cheers,
Steve
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Received on Sat Sep 25 03:38:40 2004
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