Pi Day – March 14, 2012

PI Day is March 14, 2012

WHAT IS PI?

Pi is the ratio of any circles circumference to its diameter

HUH?

The diameter of a circle is its width and the circumference is the distance around the ENTIRE circle.

SO?

Pi allows mathematicians (and students) to calculate both the area and the volume of circles and cylinders in equations. It is represented by the Greek Letter Π. This symbol was first used by William Jones in 1706, but didn’t become popular until 1737 when it was used by a Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler.

SOOOO?

Other than that, Pi is also a number that goes on for infinity (irrational number). In math it is rounded to 3.14 or 3.14159, depending on the level of accuracy. But, Pi can also look like this: 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884… and so on and so forth with no repeating number AT ALL! With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated out to OVER 1 TRILLION places PAST the decimal.

WHOA!

Exactly. Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 (3/14) because that is the first three numbers of this long little number: 3.14159292…. It is celebrated by Math Geeks and students in classrooms throughout the country. People bake pies with the symbol on top, have math related events throughout the week, and even have pie throwing contests. It’s a great way to make math fun!

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

Check out some of the books about Pi and many other math topics located under the Lego Display at the Manlius Children’s Library, ask your math teacher, and have some Math fun this month!

HAPPY PI DAY!