Pi Day
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Pi Day and Pi Approximation Day are two holidays held to celebrate the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14, 3.14 being the first three digits of pi. It is also Albert Einstein's and Waclaw Sierpinski's birthday. It can also be celebrated on March 4 (when 14% of the month of March has elapsed). Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22, due to π being roughly equal to 22/7.
Pi Minute is also sometimes celebrated on March 14 at 1:59 p.m. If π is truncated to seven decimal places, it becomes 3.1415926, making March 14 at 1:59:26 p.m., Pi Second (or sometimes March 14, 1592 at 6:53:58 a.m.).
The first Pi Day celebration was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988, with staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, and then consuming fruit pies; the museum has since added pizza pies to its Pi Day menu.[1] The founder of Pi Day was Larry Shaw,[2] a now retired physicist at the Exploratorium who still helps out with the celebrations.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology often mails its acceptance letters to be delivered to prospective students on Pi Day.[3]
Some also celebrate Pi Approximation Day in addition to Pi Day, which can fall on any of several dates:
- April 26: The Earth has traveled two radians of its orbit by this day (April 25th in leap years); thus the entire orbit divided by the distance traveled equals pi
- July 22: 22/7 in the more common day/month date format, an ancient approximation of pi
- November 10: The 314th day of the year (November 9 in leap years)
- December 21, 1:13 p.m.: The 355th day of the year (December 20 in leap years), celebrated at 1:13 for the Chinese approximation 355/113
On Pi Day 2004, Daniel Tammet calculated and recited 22,514 decimal digits of pi.[4]
The U.S. Congress passed a non-binding resolution (HRES 224),[5] recognizing March 14, 2009 as National Pi Day.[6]
Pi Day is nowadays celebrated widely across the whole world. In India it is celebrated every year at Tezpur University.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ Adrian Apollo (March 10, 2007). "A place where learning pi is a piece of cake". The Fresno Bee. http://www.fresnobee.com/283/story/34436.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
- ^ MacVean, Mary (2008-03-10). "A slice of Pi, please?". Los Angeles Times Online. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thehomeroom/2008/03/a-slice-of-pi-p.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ McClan, Erin (March 14, 2007). "Pi fans meet March 14 (3.14, get it?)". msnbc.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17605924/. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ David Letterman show 27.04.2005
- ^ "H. Res. 224". 2009-03-12. http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/hr224_eh.xml. Retrieved on 2009-03-14.
- ^ Declan McCullagh (March 11, 2009). "National Pi Day? Congress makes it official". CNET News. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10194354-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5. Retrieved on 2009-03-14.
