Talk:Indiana Pi Bill
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There are so many online accounts of the Pi Bill that characterise its text as being completely self-contradictory that I'm sorely tempted to write a sentence-by-sentence breakdown of the bill, showing how all of it is derived from a relatively small number of initial fallacies. But that would be original research, and perhaps even what I've written in the article so far is on the wrong side of WP:OR. Henning Makholm 00:36, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
- I don't know, it's pretty good to see a semi-definative work on exactly what this all was about, considering how many WILDLY differing versions of it there are. 68.39.174.238 06:21, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Goodwin's first name
User:Father Goose said in an edit summary: every reference I can find that isn't derived from Wikipedia's work gives the name as Edwin Goodwin, not Edward.
I have no idea what he was actually called, but one pre-Wikipedia reference that does say Edward is the The Straight Dope writeup mentioned among the external link. Even it, however, ackowledges that other sources say Edwin. The middle initial J does not appear to be in doubt; it is also given by some sources that say Edwin. –Henning Makholm 19:34, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
- Alas, my main source, Underwood Dudley's wonderful book Mathematical Cranks, just uses the first initial. No help there. - DavidWBrooks 20:15, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Clarification needed
"One argument used was that Goodwin had copyrighted his discovery, and proposed to let the State use it in the public schools for free."
- From what I can see, the relevant copyright law was the Copyright Act of 1790 and AFAIK, even back then, just like today, you couldn't "copyright a discovery" or mathematical proof so the sentence seems a bit odd to me. I also don't see how this sentence fits in with the sentence before it. It's out of context - why does him letting the state use it in public schools for free (after he supposedly copyrighted it) serve as an argument favoring the law? Yonatan talk 17:01, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
