Wang Fan

Wang Fan (228–266), courtesy name Yongyuan, was an official and astronomer of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. He was from Lujiang (southwest of present-day Lujiang County, Anhui). He was proficient in mathematics and astronomy. He calculated the distance from the Sun to the Earth, but his geometric model was not correct. In addition, he give the numerical value of π as 142 / 45 = 3.155… (Schepler 1950, p. 168; Volkov 1997, p. 312), not as accurate as the contemporary mathematician Liu Hui achieved. He was executed by Sun Hao, whom he was unable to respect.

References

• 三國志注 [Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms]. Chen Shou [280s or 290s], compilation; Pei Songzhi [429], annotation. 5 vols. Hong Kong: Zhonghua Publishing, 1971. 65:1453–4.
• Schepler, Herman C. (1950), "The Chronology of PI", Mathematics Magazine 23 (3): 165–170, doi:10.2307/3029284, ISSN 0025-570X, JSTOR 3029284 .
• Volkov, Alexeï (1997), "Zhao Youqin and his calculation of π", Historia Mathematica 24 (3): 301–331, doi:10.1006/hmat.1997.2163, MR 1470103 .