A visual Javascript implementation of the Monte Carlo method being used to calculate Pi.
For more information on how this came to be written, see https://danq.me/2015/06/14/calculating-pi/.
Open monte-carlo-pi.html in a modern web browser (definitely NOT IE8). Requires support for inline SVG, and benefits from a fast Javascript interpreter. Modify the file itself to tweak the options.
An inefficient but easily-understandable way to estimate the value of pi using a computer is to use a Monte Carlo experiment. To understand this, consider the following: take a square piece of grid paper with both axes labelled from -1 to 1, and draw a circle of radius 1 with its centre at the centre of the paper. That circle is described by the formula x2 + y2 = 1. Choose any point on that graph paper, and call it (x,y): now we know that if for this point x2 + y2 is less than 1, then it must lie inside the circle (this is logical, because it must lie on the circumference of a circle with a smaller radius but the same centre as our original circle). Similarly, any point for which x2 + y2 is greater than 1 must lie outside the circle.
The ratio of the area inside a circle relative to the area outside a circle but inside the smallest square that encloses that circle is pi/4. Therefore, if we choose points at random within the square graph paper, we should expect pi/4 of them to fall within the circle as opposed to outside it. If we add many random points to the graph paper and keep a count of (a) how many we add and (b) for how many x2 + y2 is less than 1, we can divide the latter by the former and then multiply by 4 to get an approximate value of pi.
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