What will you be doing on 3/14/15 at precisely 9:26:53? Twice the clocks will align with the first few digits of my favorite irrational and transcendental number (3.141592653…) or π. Over 1 trillion digits to the right of the decimal point have been calculated, and they still go on, never making a pattern, never repeating.
Take any circle, that blueberry pie that your grandmother baked would be a good choice. Measure the circumference and divide by the diameter and you will have Pi, the mathematical constant that represents the ratio of circumference to diameter in a circle. You probably encountered Pi in your early mathematics education when learning the formula for the area of a circle (2πr2).
In celebration of Pi, here are a few Pi diversions to brighten your day.
- What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack o’lantern by its diameter? Pumpkin Pi
- What do you get when you take the sun and divide its circumference by its diameter? Pi in the sky
- My PIN is the last four digits of Pi.
USA today had this nice article about Pi day and a jealous hypotenuse.
So what will you do to celebrate this irrational number? Let us know how you celebrate.
Michele Arduengo, PhD
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Did you know that nearby Stoughton (Wisconsin) zip-code is the next 5 digits in pi following 3.1415926…so pi day at 9:26 should have been extra special there.
Wow, that is quite the coincidence.