High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rabbi Nehemiah was an Israelite, circa AD 150 (during the Tannaim era). He wrote the Mishnat ha-Middot (ca. AD 150), the earliest known Hebrew text on geometry. In it, he explained away the common belief that the Bible defines the geometric ratio (pi) as being exactly equal to 3, based on the description in 1 Kings 7:23 (and 2 Chronicles 4:2) of the great bowl situated outside the Temple of Jerusalem as having a diameter of 10 cubits and a circumference of 30 cubits. He maintained that the diameter of the bowl was measured from the outside brim, while the circumference was measured along the inner brim, which with a brim that is one handbreadth wide (as described in 1 Kings 7:24 and 2 Chronicles 4:3) yields a ratio from the circular rim closer to the actual value of .