Today (March 14) is Pi Day.
Pi Day is a celebration of the mathematical constant Pi (π), which is a ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.
The significance of celebrating Pi Day on March 14, 1:59 p.m. is because the date and time form the first 6 digits of pi (3.14159).
The first known celebration of the mathematical constant was held on 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Pies were consumed, and people marched around museum’s Pi Shrine.
On March 12, 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing March 14, 2009 as National Pi Day.
Whether you are a math aficionado, neophyte, or just can’t stand numbers and symbols, you can still celebrate this quirky festival in a number of ways:
Eat Pi
The most obvious pi food are pies. Chicken pie, apple pie, pecan pie, Shepherd’s Pie — the list goes on.
Also check out pizzas, pineapple, and if you are of age, you might want to go for a pint.
Do Pi
Go for a 3.14 mile run/walk/swim. Or partake in your favorite activity for exactly 3 hours 14 mins. Not enough time? 3 mins 14 seconds, then.
Watch a 3 min 14 seconds Youtube clip, or stop watching clips 3 mins 14 seconds in.
Your birth date/Social Security number/cell phone number can be found in pi.
Join The Only Pi Day of Our Lives, a Facebook group dedicated to Pi Day.
Want to try out some cool pi activities? Check out San Francisco Exploratorium’s web page and get entertained!
Have a Second Life account? Head over to Exploratorium Island sim for “irrational exhibits, fireworks, cheerleaders, music, and dancing.”
Watch Pi
Rent/stream Pi, a 1998 psychological thriller by Darren Aronofsky.
Trivia
- March 14 is Albert Einstein’s birthday. Coincidentally, pi is used in Einstein’s Field Equations.
- One of the reasons for the House of Representatives recognizing Pi Day is so that schools and educators can “engage (students) about the study of mathematics,” in light of US children falling behind other countries in math and science scores.
- Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits past its decimal.
- The ancient Babylonians were probably the first to approximate pi, calculating the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius (pi = 3)
- Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC) was the first to calculate pi, approximating its value to be between 3 1/7 and 3 10/71.
- Chinese mathematician Zu Chongzhi (429–501) calculated the value of pi to be 355/113.
- The Greek letter, π, was adopted by William Jones in 1706 as pi’s symbol, and popularized by Leonhard Euler in 1737.
*Pi day via Shutterstock
