Ok, pi is probably a bit over the head of your average 5 year old. I know the definition of pi is circumference / diameter, but is that really how we get all the digits of pi? We just get a circle, measure it and calculate? Or is there some other formula or something that we use to calculate the however many known digits of pi there are?
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There are multiple formulas for figuring out what pi equals, just like there are multiple formulas for figuring out other answers. They seem different to us, but ultimately the different formulas for solving pi are the same, they just have a different-looking path to get there.
For instance, if we were talking about the area of a square, the most common definition is A=L^2 where L is the length of a side.
We can also use a different formula. Since this is ELI5, it’ll be easy: The other formula is A=(0.5LxL/2)x4. This formula finds the area of a triangle and multiplies it by 4, which ends up getting you to the area of a square. They’re different formulas, but both give you the same answer.
Similarly, there are formulas for pi. You could write pi=C/D. Or you could write a complex formula (that never ends) to compute pi. And since it’s a lot easier to compute this new formula than doing C/D, we use that to get a more precise answer.
Both formulas are the same, one is just easier to work with.
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