which state tried to pass a law about the value of pi in 1897?

Indiana attempted to pass a law redefining pi in 1897. This quirky episode involved House Bill 246, which nearly enshrined an inaccurate value for the mathematical constant pi (π) into state law.

The Bill's Origin

The legislation stemmed from amateur mathematician Edward J. Goodwin, a physician who claimed to have "solved" circle squaring—a famous unsolvable problem. His convoluted proof wrongly approximated pi as values like 3.2 (or nearby rationals such as 16/5, 4/1, or 3 1/7), far from the true ≈3.14159. Goodwin offered it royalty-free to Indiana if adopted, blending math crankery with legislative ambition.

Introduced on January 18, 1897, by Representative John T. Mikles at Goodwin's urging, the bill passed the Indiana House unanimously on February 12 after swift committee approval. It bizarrely landed in the Senate's Committee on Temperance before being indefinitely postponed—averted partly by Purdue professor Clarence A. Waldo's timely ridicule.

Myth vs. Reality

Contrary to urban legend, Indiana never passed a law setting pi=3 —that's a hoax traced to a 1998 article. The bill's text avoided naming pi directly, proposing methods yielding approximations like 3.2 for practical geometry, not exact redefinition. Still, it spotlighted 19th-century enthusiasm for "legislating truth."

"This is the strangest bill that has ever passed an Indiana Assembly."
— Indianapolis Journal , Feb. 1897

Key Figures and Timeline

• Edward J. Goodwin : Bill's author; published flawed proofs in American Mathematical Monthly.

• Rep. S.E. Nicholson : Education Committee chair who recommended passage.

• Prof. Clarence Waldo : Exposed flaws, calling it "crazy."

• Feb. 12, 1897 : House passage; Senate kill-shot.

Aspect| Details| Outcome
---|---|---
Pi Values Suggested| 3.2, 16/5=3.2, 25/8=3.125, 3 1/7≈3.1429 38| None adopted; pi unchanged
House Vote| Unanimous (suspended rules) 15| Passed Feb. 12
Senate Fate| Referred to Temperance; indefinitely postponed 1| Died quietly
Modern View| Famous math folklore; no law enacted 29| Lesson in pseudoscience

Cultural Echoes

This tale endures in math lore, inspiring books, articles, and Pi Day jests (March 14). Recent coverage, like a 2025 Scientific American piece, highlights its absurdity amid today's science debates. No other U.S. state flirted with similar math meddling.

TL;DR : Indiana's House passed (but Senate stopped) Bill 246 in 1897, pushing flawed pi values from a crank mathematician—never law, but eternal legend.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.