pi

«pi» in Mova's school dictionary: a special number, about 3.14, that links the distance… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (pi; the Greek letter π)

meaning for a pupil

1) Pi is a special number, about 3.14, that links the distance around a circle to the distance across it. tree →

2) Pi (π) is also a letter of the Greek alphabet. tree →

3) Pi can also be a shrill, high sound, like the noise of a pipe. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: used with circles: circumference and area; π ≈ 3.14 or 22/7; its digits go on forever without repeating. In science: used to work out wheels, planets' orbits and round things. In everyday life: «Pi Day» fun in schools; people try to remember many digits of pi.

examples

• Use 3.14 for pi. tree →
• The circumference is pi times the diameter. tree →
• Area of a circle is pi times the radius times the radius. tree →
• The symbol for pi is π. tree →
• The digits of pi go on forever: 3.14159… tree →
• A wheel 1 meter across moves about 3.14 meters in one turn. tree →
• Some people can remember a hundred digits of pi. tree →
• Our class ate pie on Pi Day. tree →
• On he ran, and louder grew the sounds of pipe and drum: pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi . . .zum, zum, zum, zum. tree →

note

Pi ≈ 3.14 or 22/7. Circumference = pi × diameter; area = pi × radius × radius. Trap: do not mix radius and diameter (diameter = 2 × radius). Homophone: pie (food); the joke «pi» and «pie» is common. Pi is the same for every circle, big or small.

In the corpora

• The young men of Aven and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword; and these cities shall go into captivity.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «pi» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.