Pretty much every year around this time, if you open this blog, the subject will be pi (∏.) I mention Pi every year because it’s important — it’s one of the things that links math to real-world uses. Lots of real-world phenomena can be calculated using pi — the the shape of rivers, the circumference of the sun, the spiral of DNA, the pupil of the eye… and so on.
In case you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know, Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter — for any circle, no matter what size. Pi is an irrational number, meaning its exact value is, and always will be, completely unknown. Scientist have calculated Pi to billions of digits, but no recognizable pattern ever emerges. These calculations could go on to infinity and we’d still have no idea what digit might come up next.
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 every year because the value of Pi is 3.14. However, Pi Approximation Day is celebrated every year on 22 July. The fraction 22/7 is an approximate value of Pi and the reason that this is the day for celebration — the numerator 22 represents the date, while the denominator seven represents the month.
The first calculation of pi was carried out by one of the acknowledged greatest mathematicians of his time, Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 B.C.)
Although March 14 really got these “Pi Days” going, today is more appropriately named…if you plug the numbers into your calculator, you’ll notice that 22 divided by ∏ provides an infinite number (until you run out of digits on your calculator.) That’s why Pi is regarded as an approximation and that’s the rationale for today. Celebrate approximately appropriately.
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