Today’s π day. March 14 is 3/14 and π is 3.14…. 3.1415926535 was as far as I cared to memorize, and even that was a waste of time.
This is a perfect day to share any π-related stories. My favorite is the day I learned about radians as an angle measurement and that a circle was 2π radians. 11th grade, I think. That had a profound effect on my future development as an adult.
Additional reading: piday.org is supposed to be the “official” π day site (at least, it’s the first site that showed up in Google).
When I was about 12 I sat down with a calculator at my Dad’s office while I waited for him to do some weekend work and figured out square roots by successive approximation with the “x” button.
Don’t forget, Sunday is “Square Root of 10 Day.” 😉
Mmmmm Pi aaaaaaaagggrrrrrlllll. (homer-esque)
When I learned of the pecuilar nature of pi and its endles seemingly unpatterned number, I think it was one of the things that convinced me that our math system is flawed. That, or that their is something really important or just strange about circles. Other things that have convinced me somewhat that our math is flawed, is the inability to divide 100 by 3 in the form of a decimal number without infinite 3s. (10 of course is the same way.) That and our lack of a smallest possible fraction. (which i guess there isn’t one, so probably not exactly a flaw with math I guess. Just an interesting aspect of our universe…) Can’t think of any other interesting occurences with pi. I think that’s a good thing.
Why does Pi only get one day a year? My favorite Pi related story? Where to start…?
According to “A History of Pi” by Petr Beckmann the symbol π was first used to represent the circle ratio by William Jones in 1706 and was popularized by Euler beginning with his use of it in 1737. This is the only book I have dedicated to Pi (sad, but true).
…
Here is an online reference:
http://numbers.computation.free.fr/Constants/Pi/pi.html
13rucewayne might like Stephen Hawking’s book “God Created the Integers” (or at least the title).
“… a circle was 2π radians.”
What were they thinking?
If, instead, radians were defined so that “… a circle was π radians” then there would be symmetry between Pie and Pi and eliminate the frequent frustration one has when ordering Pie:
Baker: “How much Pie do you want?”
Me: “Two Pi of that Pie.”
Baker: “You want two Pies?”
Me: “No. I want two Pi radians of one Pie.”
Baker: “Which is it? One Pie or two?”
Me: “I changed my mind. Just give me one Pi of Pie.”
Baker: “Ok, one whole Pie then.”
Me: “No, half a Pie. One Pi of Pie.”
Baker: “No pie for you! Next!”
If Pie and Pi were defined congruently this would not have to happen.
There is still the issue of “Pizza Pie” and especially the square ones leading to the lame “Pie are square” puns. But, we’ll save that hilarity for another day …
For all you pi-nuts….
http://www.dr-mikes-maths.com/pisearch.html
Search for your name in pi at this link
To placate the lazy… from the above link:
Your Name In pi!!!
I searched 31415929 digits of pi, and found LEP 1549 times. The first occurrence was at position 587. What this means is that …. ( search LEP and you will get the rest)
@Wahrheit: SquareRootof10Day.com is still not taken. Grab it before anyone else does.
@Blunderprone: Yo no comprendamos.
@l3rucewayne: Some argue that we should have been a base 12 instead of 10, because 12 has more divisors. If we can give everyone the polydactyly gene, this may even be achieveable in the next generation.
@Tacticus: Your one book dedicated to pi is infinitely more than most of the rest of us.
Hypothesis based on your hypothetical conversation: They defined the circle as 2 pi so restaurants like the House of Pi could grab extra income.
@Blunderprone 2: Thank you for your continual dedication to placating the lazy.
“Mascot” was not in pi, though. He’s going to be pissed.
Tacticus Maximus: I do like the title:-), although I doubt that that was really a conclusion of his.
Donnie: I thought our base system might be it. I wonder if that would solve the 100 divided by 3 problem. But I’m not willing to grow extra fingers to find out.