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John Machin
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John Machin

English mathematician
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Quick Facts
Born:
1680
Died:
1751
Title / Office:
Royal Society (1710)
Subjects Of Study:
circle
pi
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John Machin (born 1680—died 1751) was an English mathematician, notable for studies in finding the area of a circle. In 1706, he was the first to compute the value of the constant π to 100 decimal places. Machin’s formula for π was adapted by others, including Euler, to extend his result. Machin was a professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London. He worked extensively on the lunar theory but with little success. Elected a fellow of the Royal Society (London) in 1710, he was its secretary and contributed papers to the Society’s Philosophical Transactions. He was a member of the committee appointed in 1712 by the Royal Society to investigate the priority dispute between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.