World π Day
We couldn’t have a name like STEM Search Group and not celebrate World Pi Day. Most people know Pi equals 3.14, but how much do you know Pi?
Well, don’t worry about answering that one. Instead, here are some things that we found to be fascinating about Pi…
- It is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and is widely used throughout mathematics and physics.
- While the Welch mathematician William Jones is credited as the first person to use the Greek symbol π in place of 3.14159, the Greek mathematician Archimedes created the first known algorithm to approximate Pi.
- The exact value of Pi can never be calculated and is thus, infinitely long (cue “The Song That Never Ends”). A Swiss scientist has computed more than 62 trillion digits and still has not found the exact calculation of Pi.
- The first known celebration of Pi Day was in 1988. The American physicist Larry Shaw came up with the idea and celebrated 3/14 with his coworkers at San Francisco’s Exploratorium by eating pies.
- Calculating Pi is a method that can be used to benchmark and stress test computers.
- Albert Eistein was born on 3/14. Coincidence? We think not.
- Your favorite pizza might be on sale for $3.14 or less.
That last one made us a little hungry.
Sources