HAHA!! Been feeling a little depressed lately.. but the following sure perked me up!! :)
Did you know that the Bible contains 2 rough approximations to the number pi? (Ok, they were both talking about the same object... but hey... interesting right?!)
Both are refering to an altar (called the Sea) which was commissioned by King Solomon to be placed in the Temple of the Lord.
"Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference." - 1 Kings 7:23
"Also he made the cast metal sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was 5 cubits and its circumference thirty cubits." - 2 Chronicles 4:2
Both give 3 as an approximation to the number pi (do the math yourself, take the length of the circumference and divide it be the diameter). It is pretty good, by ancient stadards. Althought it cannot beat the approximation given by the Chinese Mathematician Tsu Ch'ung Chi which gave pi as 355/113.
But then again, The latter approximation was given only 1500 years ago and is correct to 6 digits, King Solomon's mathematicians approximation is over 4000 years old and is correct to 1 digit. Not bad... King Solomon had pretty good mathematicians! :)
Number theory is fun isn't it!
Once again, I assert that the Bible is a logically and numercially consistent book.
