Pi Day not just about lemon meringue or Dutch apple, though that’s certainly a delicious part of the March 14 celebration. Pi, the Greek letter written “π,” represents in math the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi is approximately 3.14159265359, but it is an infinite number, meaning that it goes on forever. It is commonly referred to as 3.14, hence why Pi Day is celebrated on March 14, or 3/14.
This year, though, is 3/14/15. Pi Day 2015 is a special one this year because the date can be written to the ten thousandth place value. You can even go crazy celebrate at 9:26 a.m. because Pi is 3.14.15926, or take it out to the second and mark 9:26:53 to get to 3.141592653. You can only do this once a century.
Some facts about pi:
* Pi is definitely not new. It goes back nearly 4,000 years to ancient civilizations, with a Babylonian tablet stating the value of pi as 3.125. In ancient Egypt, they calculated the area of a circle by a formula that gave the approximate value of 3.1605 for pi.
* The first calculation of pi was done by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world.
* Pi is an irrational and transcendental number. It will will continue infinitely without a pattern.
* Mathematicians have calculated pi to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point.
* People like to memorize as many digits of pi as they can. The record is memorizing 42,195 digits.
* Use of π, a Greek letter, first started with William Jones using it in 1706. Leonhard Euler popularized the use of the symbol when he adopted it in 1737.
* π the symbol is not new, but Pi Day is new event. The first Pi Day was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988 On March 12, 2009, the United States Congress passed a resolution recognizing Pi Day. Here are some ways to celebrate.
* In one episode of Star Trek, Spock fools a computer by asking it what the last digit of pi was.
* Pi Ball is a game played in South Africa on a circular court.
* You can use pi to determine the volume of a cylinder with this equation: V = πr2h.
* Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Germany.
* The vertical height of the Great Pyramid of Giza times 3.14 equals the perimeter of the base.
* The first 31 digits of pi contain no zeroes.
(Sources: Pi Day Fun Facts, PiDay.org, A Brief History of Pi)
You can find more Pi Day jokes here and here and activities for celebrating here.
You may also like: Facts about St. Patrick for St. Patrick’s Day
Prior post: How to make a Mickey Mouse rice krispie treat that’s sure to wow
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