Solved cryptogram
Drop a needle on a lined floor enough times and the tally of crossings will estimate pi.
Mathematics Facts, sourced to Wolfram MathWorld.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 71 letters over 19 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
Buffon posed this in 1733. If the needle is as long as the gap between the lines, the chance it lands across one is two over pi, so twice the number of throws divided by the number of crossings closes in on pi. It is a terrible way to compute the number and a wonderful demonstration that pi is not really about circles, it is about angles, and an angle is what a randomly dropped needle has.
The claim comes from Wolfram MathWorld.
- SourceWolfram MathWorld
- CollectionMathematics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length71 letters, 19 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- Wolfram MathWorldmedium, 75 letters
- Wolfram MathWorldhard, 75 letters
- Wolfram MathWorldmedium, 72 letters
- Wolfram MathWorldmedium, 72 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- Wolfram MathWorldmedium, 77 letters
- Wolfram MathWorldeasy, 72 letters
- Wolfram MathWorldmedium, 76 letters
- Wolfram MathWorldeasy, 70 letters