# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-shanks
# Generated: 2026-08-13T07:52:20.249Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-shanks"
name: "William Shanks"
slug: "william-shanks"
description: "William Shanks was an English amateur mathematician. He is famous for his calculation of π to 707 decimal places in 1873, which was correct up to the first 527 places. The error was discovered in 1944 by D. F. Ferguson. Nevertheless, Shanks's approximation was the longest expansion of π until the advent of the digital electronic computer in the 1940s."
tagline: "Amateur calculator, school owner"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1812-01-25"
deathDate: "1882-06-13"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           48.4
  momentum:             1.288343558282208
  historical:           15.75871333333333
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  45
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%83%D8%B3"
    title: "ويليام شانكس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9%D8%B3"
    title: "ویلیام شانکس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks_(math%C3%A9maticien)"
    title: "William Shanks (mathématicien)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ht.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%88%D6%82%D5%AB%D5%AC%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B4_%D5%87%D5%A5%D5%B6%D6%84%D5%BD"
    title: "Ուիլյամ Շենքս"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9"
    title: "ウィリアム・シャンクス"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://oc.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shanks"
    title: "William Shanks"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D1%81%2C_%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC"
    title: "Шенкс, Вильям"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2166727"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump