A Mathematical Mystery

The circumference of a circle is about three and a seventh times as long as its diameter. To be more exact, it’s 3.1416 times as long - a number called pi.

For some strange reason, you get the same number if you throw a stick at some paving stones!

Here’s what to do: Find a bit of floor with long straight lines. Floorboards or a floorboard design would be ideal.

Now get a stick and make sure the length is exactly the same as the distance between your lines.

Throw the stick onto the set of lines, and notice whether it lands on a line or in between.

You’ll have to do this dozens of times, scoring your ‘Hits’ and ‘Misses’ on a piece of paper.

About 100 throws should be enough. (The number isn’t important, but the more times you do it the better it is.)

Once you’ve finished, add up all the hits and misses. Now use your brain or a calculator or do a sum and find the answer to the following question:

hits divided by misses = ?

You’ll probably finish up with pi. (Don’t expect to be exact: if your answer comes between 3 and 3.3 it’s good.)

Here's the really interesting question! Your lines were straight and your stick was straight, so how have you found pi - a number that’s specially connected with circles?