Mathematician:Leonhard Paul Euler/Mistake

Source Work

1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers:

The Dictionary

$3 \cdotp 14159 \, 26535 \, 89793 \, 23846 \, 26433 \, 83279 \, 50288 \, 41972 \ldots$

Mistake

Euler ... gave an even more impressive demonstration of the power of these new methods by calculating $\pi$ to $20$ decimal places in just one hour.

In David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.), this has been amended to:

... $10$ places in just one hour.

It is assumed that the original statement of $20$ must have been erroneous, and that the second edition corrected it.

However, this needs to be properly established by investigating the literature. David Wells does not provide a source.

Sources

• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): $3 \cdotp 14159 \, 26535 \, 89793 \, 23846 \, 26433 \, 83279 \, 50288 \, 41972 \ldots$