In the “Ithaca” and “Circe” episodes of Ulysses, it is mentioned that Leopold Bloom planned to spend the summer of 1886 doing this action to win one million pounds. An attempt to do this action in De Corpore was withdrawn after attacks by John Wallis, leading to a feud between Thomas Hobbes and the Royal Society. To affirm that he had done this action, Edwin J. Goodwin persuaded the Indiana Statehouse to pass a bill redefining a key quantity. Both the lune of Hippocrates and Archimedes’ spiral were formulated in attempts to do this action. In 1882, Lindemann’s proof that pi is a transcendental number established that this action is impossible with a compass and straightedge. For 10 points, name this problem of constructing a regular quadrilateral with the same area as a given circle. ■END■
ANSWER: squaring the circle [or word forms like square the circle; prompt on descriptions of constructing a square with the same area as a circle until “constructing” is read; prompt on redefining pi or equivalents until “pi” is read by asking “redefining pi was a necessary step for what action?”]
<Other Academic>
= Average correct buzz position