Several Ada eighth graders won the Pi Day Challenge held earlier this month. Those students earned the right to pie a teacher at lunch earlier this week. More photos are at the bottom of this story.
By Monty Siekerman
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant constant π (pi) with the first three digits 3, 1, and 4 thus celebrated March 14.
Even the U.S. House of Representatives got into the act by supporting the designation of Pi Day. (And, of course, pies are involved, which is great for folks with a sweet tooth).
Pi is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant--the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter--which is approximately 3.14159.
Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point (so, don't even try). The number will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern.
While only a few digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.
If you missed Pi Day this year, there is still time to plan a celebration for Pi Approximation Day, set for July 22. To find out more about this day, Google it. My mind is tired...
