Calculation of Pi Through Measurement

By Kleid Bukas

The objective of this lab is to determine if there is a relationship between the diameter of a round
object and its circumference, and the diameter of a round object and its surface area. Five
objects, three circular and two spherical, were measured with a ruler and string. The ruler was
used to measure the diameter and radius. The string was wrapped around the object to find the
circular surface area. Areas of a hexagon and a rectangle were used to find the spherical surface
area of a soccer ball and a tennis ball, respectively. The values for pi were calculated from these
measurements, based on the ratios between diameter, circumference and surface area. The
diameter is directly proportional to the circumference, circular surface area, and spherical surface
area. If there is an increase in diameter, there is also a proportional increase in the circumference
and surface area.

Circumference vs Diameter
C=d

The plot is a straight line because as the

diameter increases, the circumference

increases. The value of

is
determined to be 3.09.

Circular Surface Area vs Diameter

CSA= r 2
The plot is a straight line because as the
diameter increases, the surface area
increases. The calculated value of
is determined to be 2.77.

Spherical Surface Area vs Diameter

SSA=4 r

The plot is a straight line because there

are only two values. The calculated value
of is 2.9

The relationship between the circumference and the diameter provides the best value of
. This is because the circumference can be found with only one measurement (the diameter)
and is therefore the most accurate.
The uncertainty causes inaccuracies in calculations and the value of pi is also inaccurate.
The uncertainty for the measured value of

is about 7%. The uncertainty for the measured

surface areas is about 13%. The uncertainty for the measured circumference based on the
diameter is about 3%.

% Kleid Bukas - Lab 0

% Calculation of Pi
clear
clc
close ALL
dataa = load('lab0all.txt')
da = dataa(:,1);
ca = dataa(:,2);
asa = dataa(:,3);
datac = load('lab0circular.txt');
dc = datac(:,1);
cc = datac(:,2);
csa = datac(:,3);
datas = load('lab0spherical.txt');
ds = datas(:,1);
cs = datas(:,2);
ssa = datas(:,3);

picd = cc./dc;
% 1. Value of pi based on measured c.
picsa = csa./((dc./2).^2)
% 2. Value of pi based on measured csa.
pissa = ssa./(4.*(ds./2).^2) % 3. Value of pi based on measured ssa.
s = sqrt(csa)
figure(1);
plot( da, ca, 'o' )
v1a = polyfit( da, ca, 1 );
y1a = polyval( v1a, da );
hold on
plot( da, y1a );

% Plots circumference vs diameter.

figure(2);
plot( dc, csa, 'o' )
% Plots circular surface area vs diameter.
v2a = polyfit( dc, csa, 1 );
y2a = polyval( v2a, dc );
hold on
plot( dc, y2a );
figure(3);
plot( ds, ssa, 'o' )
% Plots spherical surface area vs diameter.
v3a = polyfit( ds, ssa, 1 );
y3a = polyval( v3a, ds );
hold on
plot( ds, y3a );