Apropos Pi, während des Prozesses gegen O. J. Simpson befragt dessen Anwalt Robert Blasier am
26. Juli 1995 den FBI Special Agent Roger Martz:
MR. BLASIER: Can you calculate the area of a circle with a five-millimeter diameter?
MR. MARTZ: I mean I could. I don't--math--I don't--I don't know right now what it is.
MR. BLASIER: Well, what is the formula for the area of a circle?
MR. MARTZ: Pi r squared.
MR. BLASIER: What is pi?
MR. MARTZ: Boy, you are really testing me. 2.12, 2.17.
THE COURT: How about 3.12.14.
MR. BLASIER: Isn't pi kind of essential to being a scientist knowing what it is?
MR. MARTZ: I haven't used pi since I guess I was in high school.
MR. BLASIER: Let's try 3.12.
MR. MARTZ: Is that what it is? There is an easier way to do--
MR. BLASIER: Let's try 3.14. And what is the radius?
MR. MARTZ: It would be half the diameter, 2.5.
MR. BLASIER: 2.5 squared, right?
MR. MARTZ: Right.
MR. BLASIER: Your Honor, may we borrow a calculator?
(Brief pause.)
MR. BLASIER: Can you use calculator?
MR. MARTZ: Yes, I think.
MR. BLASIER: Tell me what pi times 2.5 squared is?
MR. MARTZ: 19.
MR. BLASIER: Do you want to write down 19?
MR. MARTZ: (Witness complies.)
MR. BLASIER: Square millimeters, right?
MR. MARTZ: (No audible response.)
MR. BLASIER: The area. What is one/tenth of that?
MR. MARTZ: 1.9.
MR. BLASIER: You miscalculated by a factor of two, the size, the minimum size of a swatch you needed to detect EDTA, didn't you?
MR. MARTZ: I don't know that I did or not. I calculated a little differently. I didn't use this.
MR. BLASIER: Well, does the area change by the different method of calculation?
MR. MARTZ: Well, this is all estimations based on my eyeball. I didn't use any scientific math to determine it. What I did was I took the circle and I divided it in half and then I divided it in half again and I just cut out a piece and that is how I did it.