During my primary education, the number 22/7 surfaced frequently. In absence of a calculator or decent memory, we were told to use 22/7 as an approximation for pi. While moderately useful in simple geometric calculations, 22/7 is only accurate to two decimal places. This frustrated the hell out of me, and so, instead of listening to the teacher like i should've, i spent an entire mathematics class looking for a better rational approximation of pi. Admittedly, the method I used as a ten year-old was a tad rudimentary. I think i had just reached triple digits before giving up.
Flash forward 8 years and I finally bothered to code a c program for determining rational approximations of floats.
pi
22 / 7 (2)*
355 / 113 (6)
86953 / 27678 (7)
e
19 / 7 (2)
87 / 32 (3)
878 / 323 (4)
sqrt(2)
99 / 70 (4)
577 / 408 (5)
8119 / 5741 (7)
* decimal places correct
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