Tag Archives: pi

Today is NOT “Pi Day”

Posted on 14 March 2013 by Josh Witten | 3 Comments

It may officially be Pi Day, but that doesn’t make it right¹. The 14th of March is perhaps the least educational date we could pick for Pi Day. True, π=3.14; and, true, today’s date is 3-14 (using nonsensical American notation). That tells us what π is, approximately, it does not teach us what π means. Continue reading →

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Posted in Curiosities of Nature

Tagged geometry, mathematics, pi

Happy Pi Day (Area)

Posted on 11 January 2013 by Josh Witten | 2 Comments

Traditionally, Pi Day is 14 March, because that is 3-14 and π~3.14 (except in Indiana where it was 3 for a short time – also mythically in Alabama and Tennessee). That tells you the approximate number as our calendar does not handle irrational numbers well. It also does not work in Europe where they sensibly order their dates hierarchically day-month-year.

It also does not describe at all is how we get to that value. π describes the relationship between the radius of circle (r) and its area (A) or circumference (C): A=πr² and C=2πr. If we set the length of the year (365.25 days) as the area, the radius of our year circle is 11 days. The 11th day of the year is, not surprisingly, 11 January.

I personally prefer to celebrate Pi Day as recognized by the circumference tradition on 27 February (r=58), but to each their own.