Posted Mar 15, 2008 at 09:51AM by Isaac C. Listed in: Mathematics Tags: Greece
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Happy International Pi Day! - Image 1In case you don't remember the first digits of Pi (we completely understand), it's 3.14. If you can remember that, then you'll know when to celebrate Pi Day, which is (a math pun, if you can bear it) on March 14 (3/14), which was yesterday.

Did you have a fun Pi Day? Fun fact: some celebrate Pi Day at exactly 1:59 p.m., which would stand for the next digits in the Pi constant (3.14159).

In case you haven't noticed, this is mostly a post for geeking out on the Pi constant in honor of Pi Day. Some of us here celebrated with pizza (although we didn't know it was Pi Day - we just wanted pizza).

So let's geek out. Pi is what you get when you divide a circle's circumference by its diameter. Basically, if your circle's diameter is 1, your circle's circumference stands to be Pi. All circles, in essence, are connected to Pi. Even pies.

A lot of mathematicians and scientists have given their lives to researching on Pi. One such mathematician did it literally, according to one story. This is Archimedes, the great scientist of Ancient Greece.

The story goes that he was so engrossed with trying to calculate the number of Pi, he actually shouted to a Roman soldier, saying "do not touch my circles," referring to his drawings. He was struck dead, then and there.

Archimedes could have gone on forever calculating Pi. He had only succeeded calculating the first few digits before his death. Currently, the number of calculated digits has gone up to more than a trillion, and will go on forever. It will last longer than us. Beware the Pi.

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   by Orlyeh - 2008-03-15
 » Ave Caesar!

the Ides of March spits on your Pi day



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