Wang Fan

Career

He was from Lujiang (southwest of present-day Lujiang County, Anhui). He was proficient in mathematics and astronomy. He calculated the distance from the Sun to the Earth, but his geometric model was not correct.

He was executed by Sun Hao, whom he was unable to respect.

Achievements

• In addition, he give the numerical value of π as 142 / 45 = 3.155… (Schepler 1950, p 168. Volkov 1997, p 312), not as accurate as the contemporary mathematician Liu Hui achieved.