1 Kings 7:23 He (Solomon) made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim (diameter = 10) and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it. (circumference = 30).
circumference = Pi * diameter
30 = Pi * 10
Pi = 3
Many have looked at this verse and concluded that since it says
Pi = 3, when clearly it does not, the
Bible cannot possibly be the
infallible word of
God.
But is this what it really says?
The word used for
circumference (line) has two letters in Hebrew, but this one was written with a third letter. Hebrew has no
digits; all
letters do double-duty as
numbers. If you then use the ratio formed by the numeric values of this odd form of line with the normal form, you get:
(5 + 6 + 100) / (6 + 100)
111 / 106
1.047169811
Multiply this by the false number given for Pi:
3 * 1.047169811 = 3.141509434
PI is approximately 3.141592654, giving us an error of .00264896181%, which is exceedingly
small, and probably more than
accurate enough for the measurement tools of that time (around 1000 BC).
This information was gleaned and rephrased from http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html