Huygens and π

Abstract

The Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens refined Archimedes' celebrated geometrical computation of π to its highest point. Yet the rich content of his beautiful treatise "De circuli magnitudine inventa" (1654) has apparently never been presented in modern form. Here we offer a detailed and contemporary development of several of his most striking results. We also make a historical conjecture concerning Archimedes' trisection figure.