Here's your project, and it is excellent. We'll be approximating the value of pi using the method that Archimedes developed over 2,000 years ago. Start this project as soon as possible so that you will have enough time to come in for help if you need it. Also, you might try playing around with the interactive applet on the NOVA website by clicking on link below.
First, try to figure it out using your own brain. If that fails, try enlisting the help of someone else's brain: the Internet, your really smart friend, your teacher. Your grade will not come from the completion of this packet; it basically contains an investigation that will lead you to develop some formulas that you will use in class.
Alex Bellos talks about the celebrity nature of the number pi, while Professor Roger Bowley demonstrates how Archimedes approximated pi with a cereal bowl. Numberphile. Duration_9_41
Matt Parker hilariously adds and subtracts a bunch of fractions to arrive at an approximation of pi. Standupmaths. Duration_18_39
Matt Parker channels his hungriest Edgar Allen Poe and attempts to approximate pi using a Pi-endulum. Standupmaths. Duration_4_14
Matt Parker celebrates Ultimate pi day, 3-14-15, by approximating pi with some cardboard and a makeshift compass. Standupmaths. Duration_4_13
Matt Parker approximates pi using a delicious method that predates (historically) Archimedes's [citation needed]. Numberphile. Duration_3_13
Dungeon Master Matt Parker approximates pi using a pair of D120 dice which, according to The Dice Lab, is the largest possible, mathematically balanced die. Standupmaths. Duration_18_39
James Grime enthusiastically details how data visualization can make math tolerably beautiful to arithmophobes. Numberphile. Duration_8_23