Ludolph van Ceulen (28 January 1540–31 December 1610) was a German mathematician who emigrated to the Netherlands. Born in Hildesheim, Germany, he moved to Delft to teach fencing and mathematics. In 1594 he opened a fencing school in Leiden. In 1600 he was appointed the first professor of mathematics at the University of Leiden. He died in Leiden.
Calculating π
Ludolph van Ceulen spent a major part of his life calculating the numerical value of the mathematical constant π, using essentially the same methods as those employed by Archimedes some 1800 years earlier. He published a 20-decimal value in his 1596 book Van de Cirkel ("On the Circle"), later expanding this to 35 decimals. After his death, the "Ludolphine number",
- 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288...,
was engraved on his tombstone in Leiden. The tombstone was later lost, but was restored in 2000.
External links
