Episode 278 - The South African Suez Canal, Stellaland and Goshen and James Honey's Murder Most Foul
History of South Africa podcast | 07.06.2026 14:18
In 1882, the German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann proved that π was transcendental: it cannot be reduced to a tidy equation, never captured inside the comfortable boundaries expected by mathematicians. For centuries mathematicians tried to “square the circle” — creating a perfect square with the same area as a circle using only classical tools. In 1882, they finally got their answer: impossible. π’s transcendence meant the problem itself can never be solved.
