TITLE: Could PI have a different value in a different universe?
QUESTION [43 upvotes]: The value of pi is determined by the circumference of a circle.
Why is it any particular constant number? Would a circle as defined as a perfect circle in any universe lead to a different value of pi?
Would all universes where a circle could be constructed by "people" there also lead to the value of pi?
If it is true then it leads to the conclusion that pi is some sort of constant value constant to all universe. What is the meaning of that?

Science fiction references.
In science fiction pi sometimes has a different value in different universes, for example Greg Bear's "The Way", it says "Gates are capped with cupolas formed from Space-time itself. As distortions in space-time geometry, their nature can be calculated by 21st century instruments laid on their 'surfaces'. The constant pi, in particular, is most strongly affected.".
A message is found encoded within pi, in the novel by Carl Sagan, "Contact" "Ellie, acting upon a suggestion by the senders of the message, works on a program which computes the digits of pi to record lengths in different bases. Very far from the decimal point (1020) and in base 11, it finds that a special pattern does exist when the numbers stop varying randomly and start producing 1s and 0s in a very long string.".

REPLY [2 votes]: Not surprisingly,
$\pi = 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/2} \,ds $
Now substitute,
$ x = \sin s $
then $ 0 = \sin 0 $ and $ 1 = \sin \frac{\pi}{2} $
$ \frac{dx}{ds} = \cos s = \sqrt{1 - x^2} $
$ \pi = 2 \int_{0}^{1} \frac{ds}{dx}\,dx = 2 \int_{0}^{1} \frac{1}{\sqrt{1 - x^2}}\,dx $
No measuring arc lengths with a tape measure. No concept of rotation. Not a trig function in sight. This or any of many other definite integrals could be your mathematical definition of pi.
If you insist on defining $\pi$ as circumference over diameter, there is a whole lot of mechanics you need to give that meaning. And in curved space, circumference over diameter might well depend on the diameter of the circle