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A ‘lost’ chapter in the calculation of $$\pi$$: Baron Zach and MS Bodleian 949. (English) Zbl 1325.01013
From the summary we learn that: “The Bodleian library holds a manuscript containing mathematical tables and a calculation of $$\pi$$ to 154 decimal places, last described (in part) in 1802.”
The paper under review provides an outline of the manuscript’s contents and relates it to developments in the computation of $$\pi$$, not only to those from the 19th century but also with a glance to that of the 20th century. The contents of the paper yield a vision on an (almost forgotten) way how to calculate digits from the decimal expansion of $$\pi$$. A rich list of references closes the paper. Due to Baron Franz Xaver von Zach (1754–1832), Hungarian astronomer and scientific intelligencer, the hidden manuscript came to live. There is much to get from the author’s investigations.
##### MSC:
 01A50 History of mathematics in the 18th century 01A55 History of mathematics in the 19th century 11Y60 Evaluation of number-theoretic constants
##### Keywords:
mathematical tables; pi; Baron Zach; evaluation of constants
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