14
Mar
Happy Pi Day!
Pi is the mathematical symbol used to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. This symbol has been used for hundreds of years though its approximate value has been known for thousands of years by various cultures. Today, March 14th is recognized around the world as Pi Day.
How to Celebrate
There are lots of things that you can do to celebrate. For instance, you can memorize hundreds or even thousands of digits of this number for fun. If that doesn’t sound rewarding enough, you can bake (or just eat) your favorite pie. It doesn’t matter if its a pizza pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, or whatever. Maybe even have a pie eating contest.
I highly recommend watching the movie Pi, which was directed by Darren Aronofsky. Its about a paranoid mathematician who searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Plus it has a great soundtrack.
What are you doing for Pi Day?
Please share your ideas by leaving a comment below.
Whatever you do, keep it safe, and have fun!
Does pi Deserve this Honor?
Not everybody is jumping up and down in support of this transcendental and irrational number. As Michael Hartl points out in his Tau Manifesto, the true circle constant is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its radius, not to its diameter. Michael makes a very compelling argument that tau (the greek letter T) should be the standardized symbol for the circle constant instead of the more traditionally used pi. Though he does not deny the historical importance of pi, he does a great job of demonstrating that the mathematical significance of pi is simply that it is one-half tau (tau = 2pi).
There is a growing movement to embrace tau as the true circle constant, but will that be enough to overcome the mystical power of pi and its mass appeal? Only time will tell.
So, have a happy Pi Day, or should I say Half Tau Day?
This entry was posted under Mathematics.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
