I Believe in π

(This parable is intended to share my own thoughts and feelings. It is by no means intended to show disrespect to anyone who may or may not believe in π.)

I believe in π. It is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter and to my understanding, has a value of approximately 3.14159... In English it is spelled pi, and sounds like the word pie.

Imagine that I encounter someone who has lost their belief in π. They say it doesn't work for them. They say they don't believe it. (And somehow I hear, though it isn't explicit, the message that I shouldn't believe it either.)

I scratch my head and I don't know what to say. It seems to work for me. Sure, I've had some times when it didn't work out for me, but that's usually because A) I tried to use it in a way that it wasn't intended, B) My measuring tape was stretched out of shape and inaccurate, or C) I made an error in my calculations. But on the whole, it has worked, and as I have used it more often, it has gotten easier and I have gotten useful answers more frequently.

Suppose they tell me they don't believe in π because it is irrational. There is no pattern to it. It isn't consistent. It doesn't make sense. If π were real, wouldn't it be simple and clear and easy to understand?

Again, I don't know what to say. Yes, it would be nice if π were simple and easy, but that just isn't the way it is. It wouldn't function as effectively if it were anything different. 

What if they tell me they don't believe in π because they don't know what version of π to believe in? The ancient Babylonians believed its value was 25/8, while the ancient Egyptians thought it was (16/9)^2. Some mathematicians in India interpreted it as the square root of 10. Archimedes of Greece set much of the groundwork for how π is calculated today and narrowed the value down to between 223/71 and 22/7 and gave it a new name: Archimedes' Constant. Some Welsh guy named William Jones gave it the name π as the first initial of a greek word meaning periphery. Today there are so many digits to π that a man could (and has) recited them for over 24 hours straight, and there is still nothing to say "this is the end". How can a normal person ever know which of these numbers are accurate, if any? How can I be so egotistical to believe that I know the truth?

I'll freely admit that I don't know the whole truth. Personally, I know very little - only about six digits, and in practice I only use the first two or three. But for me, that is enough. That is sufficient for me to get useful answers and solutions I can work with to the problems I face. For me, π works. Without it, I don't know how I would find solutions to those problems. Believing in π gives me peace because I know I can use it to gain the answers I need.

But then imagine I am told that I should not be influenced by emotions, opinions, choices or fears, that I should seek truth, not happiness. They tell me that I should use scientific method to discover truth - look for patterns, make a hypothesis, test that hypothesis, analyze my results and then have those results confirmed or rejected.

What can I say? When I have used my interpretation of π, it has appeared to work. As far as using scientific method goes, I hypothesize that if I use it correctly, it will continue to lead me to the answers that I need. I've continued to test this hypothesis by using π whenever I have a relevant problem to solve, and my results have been consistent - except as I mentioned before, when I have made a mistake in calculations, measurement or usage. I know other people who have had results similar to mine. I don't understand why it would work so well for some people and not for others. I don't know why it works at all, but I do know that it works for me. For me it is truth, even if I do only know the first six digits of something that goes on eternally. Again, if I didn't use π, I don't know how I would be able to find the answers to my questions.

Doubters of π might bring up other reasons why they don't believe in π. They may mention a text book that teaches about π that is full of typos. They may question whether the concept of π was discovered by the Babylonians or the Egyptians. They may mention some tale of how π was used in the construction of some building but the building leans and will some day fall over. They may mention how Archimedes wasn't known for his mathematical writing to the people of his own time period. They may further mention that Archimedes created war machines and wonder that he could have had anything to do with discovering more about π.

I don't know how to respond to this onslaught of seemingly unrelated information. In my head I think, "So what?" That all may be true, but it is all beside the point. It doesn't matter who discovered π. π was discovered by humans and humans make mistakes. But that doesn't mean that the things they discovered are inherently wrong. It doesn't matter who has used π or how their uses may or may not have turned out. What do typos have to do with whether or not π works? The fact (for me) remains that π has been discovered, that I am lucky enough to be aware of it and have learned how to use it so that it works for me.

Maybe they tell me that 𝜋 works for me only because I have been brainwashed or conditioned to believe in it. 

I consider this. Maybe I was. I was taught about π from an early age. I was taught how to use it, given plenty of opportunities to practice with it, and even tested on it. But then I remember that there was a time after I finished school that I didn't use π for a while. I thought I didn't need it; it was irrelevant to my life. And then one day I was working on a project and had a problem I couldn't solve. I struggled with the problem until I remembered what I had been taught about π. It took a lot of time and effort to remember all I had been taught, but at last I was able to use π to figure out the answer I needed and was able to complete my project. I remember this experience and ask myself, if being conditioned helps me to find answers when I need them, how is conditioning a bad thing?

Finally, imagine I am told that there have been or currently are billions of people on earth who have never heard or understood the concept of π, and they get along just fine.

That may be, but I still don't know how they would have solved the types of problems that I solve using π. What great achievements might they have been able to accomplish if they had known the use and value of π? It just makes me feel sad for them.

I would also feel sad for anyone who knew about π but didn't believe in it - those for whom π might not seem to work. They'd ask their questions and seek for another truth and I would love to understand and relate to them, but it would feel like we came from different worlds. How come π doesn't work for them when it works so well for me? I don't know. And I wouldn't know what to say.