>Hi Hilmar,
>
>In the universe there are no exact retationships. Although many think of the area of a circle in terms of a formaula a = p*(r^), I like to think of this in term of the diameter of the circle. So if the diameter of a circle were used to form a geographic square, the circle that would fit inside the geographic squire would have an area of (p * r2). Although this relation never changes regardless of the size of the circle/geographic square, it is not an exact relationship. In nature and the universe, you will not find either an exact straight line or and exact circle. Even a beam of light is bent by gravite as it travel through space. As simple and univeral as this relationship is, it seem like there would be a much less complex number to represent it.

That is right, the entire space is curved. Especially for large circles (or close to large masses), the relationship between circumference and diameter might be way off the theoretical value of pi.

It was at one time believed that space was "flat" (Euclidian), but nowadays we know that this is not true.

Hilmar.