I Kings, the written word (ktiv) used for "diameter" is "קוה" (Kuf-Vav-Heh), which makes no sense in this context. By contrast, in Chronicles II, the word for diameter is spelled as "קָו" (Kuf-Vav), meaning "line." However, according to the Mesorah
Rabbi Max Munk offered interesting insight on the verses in Tanach.
(This insight is often misattributed to the Vilna Gaon. This was strongly disputed by Prof. Elishakoff and Dr. Pines in the article "Do Scripture and Mathematics Disagree on the Number π?" B'Or HaTorah, 17, pp 141-42.)
This Is not the GRA- IF someone can find the source of it being the GRA LET me know
IT is Rabbi MAX MUNK Rabbi Max Munk offered interesting insight on the verses in Tanach. (This insight is often misattributed to the Vilna Gaon. This was strongly disputed by Prof. Elishakoff and Dr. Pines in the article "Do Scripture and Mathematics Disagree on the Number π?" B'Or HaTorah, 17, pp 141-42.)
This was called to my attention by my frriend Jonathan Goldstein: LET ME Know if anyone can find a Source in the Gra's writting to the opposite
Harold Loiterman, Norfolk
As you rightly stated, this is wrongly attributed to the Gra. The idea itself as you rightly said appears in the writings of Matityahu (Max) Munk (published in 1968 in the Nissan edition of Hadarom journal) who wrote about the proportion between the Ksiv קוה and the Kri קו which is 111/106 = 1.047. When this proportion is multiplied by 3 we get 3.141- close enough to pi.
However it is also quoted in the writings of Rabbi Yaakov Levi, a rabbi and genius who was a sailor most of his extraordinary career and served as Mashgiach on the Zim ships after the establishment of Israel. (1895-1970). His writings were published in זכר יעקב a book published in his memory (his wife and children perished in the Holocaust) in 1974 and the same idea appears there.
Yoel Domb