Teaching Approximations (was Re: Microcode, which is a no-go for

[Chuck Guzis]

For those musically uninitiated, my reference to Elgar was the
interesting discovery by an amateur musician that the "enigma" of the
"Nimrod" variation, which has been debated by musicologists for the last
century or so, is very likely pi.

Consider that by assigning a number to the degrees of the scale, you
have 3.142 =

mi do fa re, or the opening notes that Elgar referred to in his letters
for his "small circle of friends".

Here's a YT performance of Nimrod so you can see how often this theme
occurs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE

Musicologists generally don't like the proposed solution, but bear in
mind that the "Enigma Variations" were composed at nearly the same time
that the Indiana Pi Bill was being ridiculed by the literate world.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill

Politicians!

--Chuck