ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader) (08/30/83)
It seems to be widely known that a law was once proposed in Indiana that would have set the value of pi. I believe I've seen this in Martin Gardner and in the book A History of Pi (by Beckmann, I think). But as I recall, the sources that seemed most informed about the matter implied that the law was more complicated than that, and perhaps even contradictory. Jeff Mizener recently posted to net.followup and net.legal some background on the story that is new to me. Could he or someone else provide a pointer to a complete description of the affair, including the text of the bill or applicable section? (I also recall reading that the bill was not defeated, just dropped...) Mark Brader, NTT Systems Inc., Toronto