Facebook user Kay Sweet will be celebrating Pi Day, and her birthday. Photo courtesy of Kay Sweet
It’s a most auspicious holiday for math lovers. Saturday, March 14, 2015 is Pi Day, a celebration of the irrational number that describes the ratio of a circle’s diameter to its circumference. Pi is approximately 3.141592653, but it continues at random to infinity. No matter how many numbers after the decimal place you use, the only way to get it exactly is to use the symbol pi.
It’s odd for something out of math to become so popular, David Blatner, author of “The Joy of Pi” told the NewsHour in 2013. But there’s something special about pi that people connect with, he said.
“It strikes a dissonant chord within us. How can something so simple as a circle — the most simple shape in the universe — how can it be defined by something we cannot know?”
So we asked math-lovers: how are you celebrating? Here are some ways people have marked this momentous Pi Day.
@NewsHour #NewsHourAsks Aristea Primary School in Cape Town, RSA: PI numbers reciting competition today – the winner said 190 digits!! :-)
— Renier Bekker (@renier1901) March 13, 2015
Some people are joining in a Pi Puzzle Party:
@NewsHour celebrating Pi Day with this awesome "Pi Puzzle Party". #NewsHourAsks http://t.co/chA8kpAS2T
— Tanner Bain (@TannerAU) March 12, 2015
.@NewsHour Every day I'm puzzlin', but particularly #PiDay. http://t.co/YTsR4Ti9TZ #NewsHourAsks
— Steven Clontz (@StevenXClontz) March 12, 2015
Others advocate for better STEM education (and a pi emoji):
@NewsHour we're petitioning for a #pi #emoji: http://t.co/QUjJcqo5Aq & advocating for #STEM education: http://t.co/qAW4bmlIjJ #NewsHourAsks
— The App Association (@actonline) March 10, 2015
Pi doesn’t just appear in dessert form for some math-lovers:
Image courtesy of Facebook user Jim Popper.
Facebook user Emma Carmela Preciado will also be celebrating her birthday on Pi Day. Image courtesy of Emma Carmela Preciado.
A few are getting musical:
@NewsHour learn what kind of #pie you are: http://t.co/0cdg98ZyrV & celebrate w/ #sopngsaboutpi: http://t.co/zpHulws84L #NewsHourAsks
— The App Association (@actonline) March 10, 2015
@NewsHour I'll be singing this song for Pi Day: https://t.co/xA3axy6zxl #NewsHourAsks
— John G. (@osxpert) March 12, 2015
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is showing off how they use pi when exploring space:
Best #PiDay this century is 3/14/15. Grab a slice & learn how we use pi at JPL: http://t.co/iDTjNLqfmI pic.twitter.com/T86Yx3GMWQ
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) March 12, 2015
And of course, lots and lots of pies:
YES!! With 7 pies and 11 engineers @jvainc RT “@PBS: Will you be celebrating Pi Day? Tell @NewsHour: http://t.co/dlIJJIRBAm #NewsHourAsks”
— Mandy Rasmussen (@simplifywater) March 12, 2015
Celebrating #PiDay with @MadCo_KFTC Pie Auction on 3.14.15 in #Berea. @NewsHour #NewsHourAsks pic.twitter.com/fDjWSJfoA1
— Beth Bissmeyer (@betharoomagoo) March 10, 2015
Facebook user Heather Armstrong shows us “At work Pi Day!!”
The post Why Math geeks are so excited about March 14, 2015, at 9:26:53 appeared first on PBS NewsHour.