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Ludolph van Ceulen (28 January 1540 - 31 December 1610) was
a German mathematician who
emigrated to the Netherlands. Born in Hildesheim, Germany, he
was appointed the first professor of mathematics at the University of Leiden in 1600
and 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
has been restored in the year 2000.
External references
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