If you’re in the US, at some point today your clock will read 9:26 on March 14, 2014. That means you’ll see 3/14/14 9:26:53, which is almost the most complete representation of Pi we’ll ever see in a date/time format — we’re off by just one one ten-thousandth! We’ll have to wait for next year for a truly massive blowout, but we can still celebrate the mathematical wonder that is Pi today. Do you know what that means?
Shenanigans, obviously. Oh, and one more thing…
Pi is super useful
Pi represents an important symbol in the way we observe and understand the world around us. It’s a mathematical constant, the unchanging ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. For circles of all sizes, Pi is always exactly the same. As you can probably guess, this comes in handy for all sorts of calculations.
You can really geek out with Pi
It’s also an infinite and patternless number that has been calculated out over a trillion digits past the decimal point, even though only 39 digits past the decimal are needed to accurately calculate the spherical volume of our entire universe.
Pi is most commonly shortened to 3.1415926 or even just 3.14 when it’s not referenced directly by the symbol “π”. It’s a lot more than just nerdy math porn, which is why we celebrate it every year on March 14th.
Pi Day is about more than just math
It’s not just a casual celebration held by geeks on the Internet anymore, either. Pi Day has grown so popular that in 2009 bill H. RES. 224 turned this silly celebration into National Pi Day, a US government-recognized day of importance. The resolution doesn’t do much more than offer a simple gesture of encouragement towards the National Science Foundation and encourages teachers to place focus on the importance of Pi today, but it’s an excuse to celebrate one of the most important facets of our mathematical understanding of the Universe.
And for the remaining 0.1415926, we’d like to recognize some of the awesome work that’s gone into Pi Day!
Naturally, Pi day is also an excuse to do something clever with pies. In keeping with that spirit, here’s a video Rosanna Pansino made showing us how to make some Pi Day pops, it’s one of our favorite Pi Day creations.
Happy Pi Day!