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.

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Michele Arduengo

Social Media Manager at Promega Corporation

Michele earned her B.A. in biology at Wesleyan College in Macon, GA, and her PhD through the BCDB Program at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Michele is the social media manager at Promega and managing editor of the Promega Connections blog. She enjoys getting lost in a good book, trumpet playing, knitting, and snowshoeing.

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