 Rabbi Nehemiah in the 2nd century argued that the text is not claiming that equals 3, but that instead the Hebrews measured the diameter from the outside edge of the rim of the bowl, while the circumference was measured from under the rim, since it cannot be measured with a cord along the outside edge of the rim.After accounting for the width of the brim--"about an hand breadth"--this results in a ratio closer to the true value of .Taking a "cubit" to be about 18 inches and a "handbreadth" to be about 4 inches, the ratio of the described dimensions of the bowl differs from by less than 1%.