Circles are some of the most beautiful and versatile shapes in nature.
Every March 14, math enthusiasts from around the world commemorate Pi Day and International Mathematics Day (IDM).
The day aims to raise awareness about the importance of mathematics and its role in shaping our world, and to promote the beauty and relevance of mathematics to a wider audience.
This year’s theme is Mathematics for Everyone. More than 1,700 worldwide events have been announced to celebrate the day.
What is pi and why is it important?
Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, which is approximately 3.14.
Pi is one of the most famous symbols in mathematics and has many important applications in physics, engineering and statistics.
Although the idea of pi is thousands of years old, it was only in its early days 1700 when the Greek letter for p, or π, was used to represent the mathematical constant.
It is assumed that π was chosen as an abbreviation of periphery or circumference that measures the distance around the outside of the circle, also known as the circumference of a circle.
Why is Pi Day celebrated on March 14?
March 14 can also be written as 3/14 in month/day format, which corresponds to the first three digits of the numerical value of pi.
Pi Day celebrations began on March 14, 1988 San Francisco Exploratorywhere physicist Larry Shaw hosted a celebration to make math more relatable and fun.
March 14, 1879 also happens to be the birthday of Albert Einstein, one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century.
Fun Pi Day Activities
On March 14, many events and activities are organized worldwide to mark the famous symbol.
Some of these activities are:
Remember everything about pi
Contests are held in math classrooms and online to see who can remember the most digits of pi. In March 2015, Rajveer Meena, a 21-year-old student at VIT University, Vellore, India, set the Guinness World Record by memorizing 70,000 digits of pi, a remarkable feat that took him nearly 10 hours to memorize.
Why don’t you give it a try? Below are the first 100 decimal places of pi. See how much you can learn:
Pi= 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679…
An achievement that went in #historywhen Rajveer Meena memorized 70k #decimal places of Pi.#PiDay #backlash pic.twitter.com/gtyhShwXZM
— VIT University (@VIT_univ) March 14, 2016
Make some Pi Day art
If memorizing numbers doesn’t sound fun to you, how about getting creative by making some Pi Day art?
On March 14, science and math teachers inspire their students of all ages by organizing fun activities such as making paper chains on Pi Day, rolling pi numbers with dice, playing card games and telling math jokes.
What are your favourites #PiDay classroom activities? 🥧 #learning math https://t.co/TUB0ZXJf1r
— WeAreTeachers (@WeAreTeachers) March 5, 2020
Celebrate with a pizza party
In another Pi Day tradition, why not treat yourself to circular food? Pizzas, pancakes and pies of all kinds work well.
A tasty activity to demonstrate pi is:
- Grab four pizzas for yourself and arrange them in a row
- Cut the crust off one pizza
- Place the crust over the four pizzas
- You’ll see the crust span just over three pizzas
- how much more? Well, 3.1415 pizzas to be exact
With Pi Day just around the corner, let’s remember what Pi is all about.
After thoroughly washing your hands, cut the crust off one pizza pie and place it on top of four others. You’ll see the crust span just over 3 pies. That is Pi ≈ 3.14.
But that is not everything! (follow-up) pic.twitter.com/xTVbObrPzH
— Alex Kontorovich (@AlexKontorovich) March 6, 2020