Buffon's Needle Experiment

In the 18th century, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, discovered a relationship between randomly dropped needles and the value of π (pi). If we randomly drop needles on a surface with parallel lines, the probability of a needle crossing a line is related to π! This interactive experiment demonstrates how we can approximate π using this method.

Buffon's Needle Formula:

π ≈ 2 × l × nd × h
where: l = needle length, d = line spacing, n = total needles, h = needles crossing lines
Note: With default values (l=60, d=120), formula simplifies to π ≈ n/h
120
60
1000
20
Total Needles
0
Needles Crossing
0
π Estimate
-
Actual π
3.14159...