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View Full Version : Conservative Pie; Republicans Introduce Legislation Redefining Pi as Exactly 3




tangent4ronpaul
03-24-2011, 05:38 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-squires/republicans-introduce-leg_b_837828.html

Congresswoman Martha Roby (R-Ala.) is sponsoring HR 205, The Geometric Simplification Act, declaring the Euclidean mathematical constant of pi to be precisely 3. The bill comes in response to data and rankings from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, rating the United States' 15 year-olds 25th in the world in mathematics.

...

Pi has long been defined as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius, a mathematical constant represented by the Greek letter "π," with a value of approximately 3.14159. HR 205 does not change the root definition, per se. The bill simply, and legally, declares pi to be exactly 3.

...

"I badly want to refuse to dignify HR 205 with acknowledgment, but... my Republican friends are serious," Obama said. "And I don't care how strongly Geometric Simplification has been polling, I just can't be responsible for that." The president added, "Unless there's something on the table. Barack Obama does love a good compromise. Maybe if Republicans will agree to let Planned Parenthood perform AIDS testing. Or just convince the Tea Party Caucus to at least publicly agree it is the Earth that revolves around the sun, and not the other way around."

[Yeah it's humor, and while I can believe that Congress would do something this brain dead, I would have expected a Democrat to introduce it.]

acptulsa
03-24-2011, 05:41 PM
[Yeah it's humor, and while I can believe that Congress would do something this brain dead, I would have expected a Democrat to introduce it.]

Nah. There's a spot in the Bible where some ancient estimated the ratio of circumference to diameter at three to one. So, it would have been a Christian Fundamentalist doing it.

Besides, Democrats like irrational numbers.

nate895
03-24-2011, 05:42 PM
Nah. There's a spot in the Bible where some ancient estimated the ratio of circumference to diameter at three to one. So, it would have been a Christian Fundamentalist doing it.

Besides, Democrats like irrational numbers.

As if Christian fundamentalists take passing comments about a vase to be statements of mathematical norms.

ChaosControl
03-24-2011, 05:44 PM
I'm trying to find the onion link. What the hell?

RforRevolution
03-24-2011, 05:55 PM
The article is under:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/comedy/

Elwar
03-24-2011, 06:04 PM
As long as enough scientists maintain that the mainstream scientific assessment is that pi is 3, then it is true.

MikeStanart
03-24-2011, 06:36 PM
Yes, because there aren't more important things legislators should be trying to tackle.....

FrankRep
03-24-2011, 06:40 PM
I'm trying to find the onion link. What the hell?

Simplifying Pi?: Article a Hoax (http://www.livescience.com/13405-pi-important-hoax-simplifying-110324.html)