Template:Did you know nominations/Squaring the circle

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 22:14, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

Squaring the circle

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... that although the problem of squaring the circle with compass and straightedge goes back to Greek mathematics, it was not proven impossible until 1882? Source: Fritsch, Rudolf (1984). "The transcendence of π has been known for about a century—but who was the man who discovered it?". Results in Mathematics. 7 (2): 164–183.
- ALT1: ... that 19th-century cranks falsely believed that squaring the circle would win a large prize? Source: de Morgan, Augustus (1872). A Budget of Paradoxes. p. 96.
- ALT2: ... that Lewis Carroll was unable to convince a circle-squarer that $\pi \neq 3.2$ ? Source: Gardner, Martin (1996). The Universe in a Handkerchief: Lewis Carroll’s Mathematical Recreations, Games, Puzzles, and Word Plays. New York: Copernicus. pp. 29–31.
- ALT3: ... that Ramanujan found an approximate method for squaring the circle, accurate to eight decimal places? Source: Ramanujan, S. (1914). "Modular equations and approximations to π". Quarterly Journal of Mathematics. 45: 350–372. http://ramanujan.sirinudi.org/Volumes/published/ram06.pdf. Castellanos, Dario (April 1988). "The ubiquitous π". Mathematics Magazine. 61 (2): 67–98. doi:10.1080/0025570X.1988.11977350. JSTOR 2690037.
- ALT4: ... that the mathematical problem of squaring the circle has been used in literary metaphors by authors from Aristophanes to James Joyce and Thomas Mann? Source: Tubbs, Robert (December 2020). "Squaring the circle: A literary history". In Tubbs, Robert; Jenkins, Alice; Engelhardt, Nina (eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Mathematics. Springer International Publishing. pp. 169–185. Pendrick, Gerard (1994). "Two notes on "Ulysses"". James Joyce Quarterly. 32 (1): 105–107. JSTOR 25473619. Goggin, Joyce (1997). The Big Deal: Card Games in 20th-Century Fiction (PhD). University of Montréal. p. 196.
- Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Helen Hadsell and Template:Did you know nominations/Acoutsina (double QPQ for large backlog)

Improved to Good Article status by David Eppstein (talk). Self-nominated at 19:35, 28 May 2022 (UTC).

This article was just promoted to good article status within the last week at Talk:Squaring the circle/GA1, so that passes. I prefer the first hook over any of the alts because it describes the overall topic to anyone no otherwise familiar with it, whereas the alternates require either prior knowledge or further reading to understand. The citation used for the main hook does not connect to Greek mathematics in the wiki article text; however, the age and origin of this problem is common knowledge and also supported by several other citations in the wiki article such as
- Heath, Thomas (1921). History of Greek Mathematics. The Clarendon Press. See in particular Anaxagoras, pp. 172–174; Lunes of Hippocrates, pp. 183–200; Later work, including Antiphon, Eudemus, and Aristophanes, pp. 220–235.

The hook is formatted according to Wikipedia:Did you know/Hook format, including 151 characters so under the 200 limit.

I considered whether it was a neutrality issue to date this to Greek mathematics when Chinese, Indian, and other ancient mathematicians also addressed the issue, but in this hook it does say specifically solving it with straightedge and compass, which is Western tradition.

For alt1 I see the bit about cranks squaring the circle, but the way it is written it seems like the belief in the existence of a prize is the crank part. In any age a simple solution to this problem would be prize worthy.

For alt2 there must be some amusing story in the source that I do not know. Surely no one knowledgeable and not just the person mentioned with round to 3.2.

Alt3 and Alt4 are interesting and read well. I could not verify Alt 3 with the cited source doi.org/10.1080/0025570X.1988.11977350 and Alt4 is a paper book to which I do not have access. If other hooks do not work I can look again.

There is no proposed image but if one is needed then File:Squaring the circle.svg would be suitable.

Nominator did two QPQ so more than sufficient. Bluerasberry (talk) 18:38, 29 May 2022 (UTC)