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Pi Day: 14th March
Pi Day: 14th March
Happy Pi Day! Celebrated every year on March 14, Pi Day is more than just a reason to eat dessert; it is a global tribute to the mathematical constant pi, which represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
Because the date March 14 is written as 3/14 in the month/day format, it aligns perfectly with the first three significant digits of pi: 3.14.
The History of the Holiday
The tradition of celebrating Pi Day began in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium. It was the brainchild of physicist Larry Shaw, who organized a public march around a circular space followed by a feast of fruit pies.
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Official Recognition: In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution making it an official national holiday.
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International Status: In 2019, UNESCO designated March 14 as the International Day of Mathematics, expanding the scope to celebrate the beauty of all mathematical fields.
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A Special Birthday: Pi Day also happens to be the birthday of Albert Einstein, who was born on March 14, 1879.
Key Properties of Pi:
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Irrational: It cannot be written as a simple fraction (like 22/7, which is only an approximation).
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Infinite: Its decimals go on forever without ever repeating or forming a permanent pattern.
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Transcendent: It is not the root of any algebraic equation with rational coefficients.
While we only need about 15 decimal places (3.14159265358979) to calculate the circumference of a circle the size of the known universe with extreme accuracy, people have calculated $\pi$ to over 100 trillion digits as a test of computing power.
How the World Celebrates
Pi Day is celebrated with a unique blend of intellectual rigor and lighthearted puns.
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Activity
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Description
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Pie Feasts
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Eating fruit pies, pizza pies, or "pot pies" because of the homophone "pi" and "pie."
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Recitation Contests
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Competitive "pi-thons" where participants recite as many digits of pi from memory as possible. The current record is over 70,000 digits!
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NASA Challenges
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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory often releases "Pi in the Sky" challenges, using pi to solve real space exploration problems.
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"Tau" Time
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Some mathematicians prefer 2\p (known au) and wait until 6:28 PM to celebrate.
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