An
oddity of the
Universe first discovered by
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.
It's a simple experiment, yet one of the most curious in all of mathematics.
Ingredients
1 sheet of lined paper (or anything with evenly spaced lines)
any number of needles or similar objects
Preparation
Cut the needles so that they are exactly the same length as the space between the lines on the paper.
Experiment
These needles can be in one of two states (binary, like a computer): they can either be crossing a line, or they can not. Record the state of each needle as you drop it.
The result? 2 x the number of drops, divided by the number of needles in the crossed state = pi
The more needles you drop, the closer the result gets to becoming pi.
And who said the world wasn't an interesting place?