Today is Pi Day. The day was founded in San Francisco in 1988 at the Exploratorium by its resident physicist, Larry Shaw. Pi itself has been with us much longer. Its first written approximations appear in Babylon and Egypt as early as 1660 BCE. Most of us are more familiar with the polygonal determination for pi that was first derived by the Greek mathematician, Archimedes, around 250 BCE. You can explore several subsequent calculations and mathematical applications here. Granted, I don't understand most of them but their stories are rather interesting.
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| Archimedes Giuseppe Nogari (1699-1766) |
Today, you have an opportunity to celebrate, celebrate, celebrate morning and night. Yes, that's three official celebrations:
1. Pi Day - today is March 14 or 3.14;
2. Pi Minute - official designation is March 14 at 1:59 PM or 3.14159; and;
3. Pi Second - official designation is March 14 at 1:59:26 PM or 3.1415926
If you're a night owl you could get away with minute and second celebrations in the A.M.
One could say it's an opportunity for "constant" enjoyment.
If you can't celebrate today or happen to live in a world using the day/month/year calendar all is not lost. You can celebrate Pi Approximation Day on 22 July or 22/7 = 3.142857.
Geek or not, may your Pi Day be filled with transcendence.
Source:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prince-of-pi.jpgen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
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