A Fractal Representation of Pi… In a Crop Circle

In the south of the UK, crop circles are a common event. These strange, flattened patterns appear suddenly and without explanation in farmland throughout the county of Wiltshire. Skeptics will argue that these patterns have been made by pranksters or by enthusiasts wanting to create large-scale crop graffiti. Others will argue it is an attempt by extraterrestrial beings to communicate with us by stamping their presence into a field. I’m keeping an open mind as to the source of these features, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with either “skeptic” or “believer”. And this is the reason why. The UK’s most complex crop circle appeared in a field earlier this month, and it took an astrophysicist to decipher what it meant…

I usually don’t cover stories like this on astroengine, but I thought this was pretty captivating. A crop circle, measuring 150 metres in diameter appeared in a field last month, and at first no one knew what it meant, and filed it under “C” for “Cool Looking Circle.” That was until a retired astrophysicist saw the aerial photograph above the Wiltshire countryside near the village of Wroughton. Mike Reed realised that far from being an interesting pattern, it was in fact a graphical representation of the mathematical symbol π (Greek letter pi). Complex crop circles have appeared before featuring fractal patterns, but this one is a geometric shape that accurately depicts the first ten digits of π.

π = 3.141592653

Reed managed to understand what was being communicated and drew up his graphical representation of π to 10 digits. Although it may not appear obvious at first, the crop circle above has been designed in the following way:

But how does it work? If you cut the crop circle into 10 pieces, the pattern becomes obvious. You have to start in the middle, at “1″ in the diagram to the left, and work clockwise. It is important to take note of the “steps” as the spiralling black line progresses outward. The first number with a step immediately after is the number “3″, we make a note of this number. As in the crop circle in Wiltshire, there is a small circle embedded in the step noted as “1″, this is a decimal point. Progressing beyond the first step, we immediately hit a second step, so this means we make a note of the number “1″ (giving us 3.1). Spiralling outward we hit a third step at the number “4″, we make a note of this number (giving us 3.14). As we continue, another step at “1″ (3.141), and then at “5″ (3.1415), “9″ (3.14159) and “2″ (3.141592). This pattern continues to the end of the spiral at the tenth and last digit. After this, there is a series of 3 circles denoting that π continues to infinity.

To be honest, I find this awesome. If this was created by a group of humans, it is a stunning achievement (although no one has come forward claiming responsibility). As for the other option (i.e. ET communication), I’m not so sure. However, as I was asked during the Paranormal Radio show with Captain Jack last week, “UFO’s, yes or no?”, I will have to respond with: Keep an open mind. Yes, I believe in extraterrestrial life, but as for them visiting Earth to communicate via crop circles seems a bit far fetched. Still, this is a nice little mystery…

Source: Daliy Mail