John Machin

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John Machin

1680-1751

English mathematician who made significant progress towards understanding the number pi (π), which he calculated to over 100 decimal places. Machin developed one of the first efficient trigonometric identities that could be used to calculate the value of pi to a large number of places in a reasonable amount of time. This formula was one of the primary mathematical tools used by investigators in this area for two centuries.

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