What’s Pi Day all about? Math, science, pies and more

Math enthusiasts around the world, from college students to rocket scientists, celebrate Pi Day on Thursday, March 14 or 14 – the first three digits of an infinite number with many practical applications.

Many people around the world will celebrate the day with a piece of cake – sweet, savory or even pizza.

Simply put, Pi is a mathematical constant that expresses the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. It is part of many formulas used in physics, astronomy, engineering and other fields, dating back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, Babylon and China.

Pi Day itself dates back to 1988, when physicist Larry Shaw started the celebrations at San Francisco’s Exploratorium science museum. However, the holiday did not really gain national recognition until twenty years later. In 2009, Congress designated every March 14 as the big day – to hopefully encourage more interest in math and science. Fittingly, this day is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.

Here you can read a little more about the origins of the holiday and how it is celebrated today.

Pi can calculate the circumference of a circle by measuring its diameter (the distance through the center of the circle) and multiplying it by the number 3.14 plus.

It is considered a constant number and is also infinite, meaning it is mathematically irrational. Long before computers, historical scientists like Isaac Newton spent many hours calculating decimals by hand. Today, with the help of advanced computers, researchers have come up with trillions of digits for pi, but there is no end in sight.

It did not get its name until 1706, when the Welsh mathematician William Jones began using the Greek symbol for the number.

Why that letter? It is the first Greek letter in the words ‘circumference’ and ‘circumference’, and pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference (or circumference) to its diameter.

The number is the key to accurately aiming an antenna at a satellite. It helps figure out everything from the size of a huge cylinder needed in refinery equipment to the size of paper rolls used in printers.

Pi is also useful in determining the required scale of a tank serving heating and air conditioning systems in buildings of different sizes.

NASA uses pi every day. It is critical for calculating orbits, the positions of planets and other celestial bodies, elements of rocket propulsion, communications with spacecraft, and even the proper deployment of parachutes when a vehicle crashes to Earth or lands on Mars.

Using just nine digits of pi, scientists say it can calculate the Earth’s circumference so accurately that it only makes an error of about a quarter inch (0.6 centimeters) for every 25,000 miles (about 40,000 kilometers).

Every year, the San Francisco museum that created the holiday hosts events, including 3.14 parades around a circular plaque called the Pi Shrine — and then, of course, festivities with lots of cake.

Many events are now taking place on college campuses across the country. Nova Southeastern University in Florida, for example, will host a series of activities, including a game called “Mental Math Bingo” and an event with free pizza (pies) – and the requisite pie for dessert.

“Each year, Pi Day gives us a way to celebrate math, have fun and recognize how important math is in all of our lives,” said Jason Gershman, chairman of NSU’s math department.

At Michele’s Pies in Norwalk, Connecticut, manager Stephen Jarrett said it’s one of their biggest days of the year.

“We have hundreds of cakes that are being ordered (Thursday) from businesses, schools and just individuals,” Jarrett said in an interview. “Pi Day is such a fun, crazy holiday because it’s a mathematical number that people like to make into something fun and delicious. So people celebrate Pi Day with sweet pies, savory pies, and it’s just an excuse for a little treat.”

NASA has its annual “Pi Day Challenge” online, offering people a host of games and puzzles, some of which come straight from the space agency’s own playbook, such as calculating the orbit of an asteroid or the distance a lunar rover travels each day should take. to investigate a specific lunar region.

Possibly the most famous scientist in the world, Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Germany. The infinite number of Pi was used in many of his groundbreaking theories and now Pi Day gives the world another reason to celebrate his achievements.

In a bit of mathematical symmetry, famed physicist Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76. Yet Pi is not a perfect number. He once had this to say:

“One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply does not exist. Without imperfection, you and I would not exist.”

_____

Associated Press video journalist John Minchillo contributed from Norwalk, Connecticut.