[Squeakland] Discovering Pi in Squeak

[subbukk]

Hi,

I am trying to create an experiment to help children my kids discover numbers 
like Pi. I don't want Pi to be introduced to kids as an "irrational" number. 
It is a real number that exists in curved shapes. While countables can be 
understood with beads or pebbles and fractions with slices, numbers like Pi 
will need continuous things like sticks and strings[1].

The kids start the play by placing two sticks in a V-shape and use a string to 
span the other ends. Add another stick to the mix and spread the sticks out 
radially. Extend the string to the tip of the new stick and back again to the 
starting point to form a triangle. Keep increasing the number of sticks and 
use the string to form squares, pentagons and so on. Soon a circle takes 
shape and the string converges to its perimeter. Now get the child to mark 
this length and express it in terms of stick units (fractions allowed). 
Repeat with different lengths of sticks. Let the child discover that some 
measures are not countable or even expressible easily as a fraction. Now the 
name 'Pi' can be introduced and the perimeter could be expressed as 2*Pi.  
Pictures of village blacksmith trying to cut a strip of iron to rim a bullock 
cart wheel set the tone for the exercise.

As a parent of two young kids, I worry about kids hurting themselves with the 
sticks. Squeak is a lot safer for such experiments. The nearest object that I 
could use in Squeak is the Star. But the number of sticks (vertices count) or 
stick length (distance between center and vertex) or the string segment 
length (distance between adjacent vertices) are not computable from the 
properties visible in the viewer.

Did I miss something or is there a better way to do this in Squeak?

Thanks in advance .. Subbu
[1] Sutra in Sanskrit. The humble string is so useful in conveying complex 
concepts that the term Sutra also gets applied for formulae (e.g. E=mc^2) and 
theory, theses etc.