By Lorie Ham
On March 14, it will once again be Pi Day. But what exactly is Pi Day? According to Wikipedia, it is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). The reason it is celebrated on that particular day is because 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of pi. The House of Representatives recognized March 14 as National Pi Day in 2009.
Pi is one of the oldest and most recognized mathematical constants in the world. It is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter. Its value is approximately equal to 3.14159265, or 3.14 for short.
The earliest known official or large-scale celebration was organized in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Staff and the public marched around one of its circular spaces, and then ate fruit pies. The Exploratorium continues to celebrate to this day.
Timeanddate.com has several suggestions for celebrating this unusual day, which include eating pies, baking pies, having a pi recitation contest, and watching the 1998 movie by Darren Aronofsy called Pi.
Among the many who celebrate Pi Day, NASA celebrates every year. On their website they offer 10 different suggestions for celebrating, which include making and eating space themed pies! PiDay.org offers resources for teachers who want to celebrate Pi Day in their classroom, math tutorials and videos, and even pi merchandise! One thing that Chiff.com suggests is to include other round foods in your celebration such as pizza and donuts, and not limit yourself to pies. You can also celebrate with meat pies. There are also pi songs all over YouTube, and there are pi trivia games.
While some suggestions such as pi recitation contests and Pi Day marathons, will mostly appeal to the math fans in your life, on Holidays Calendar, you can also find some more unusual and messy ways to celebrate such as pie drops. Pie drops are an activity in which people drop pies from the top of a building to see who gets the biggest splatter. For even more ideas, check out Wiki How.
However you choose to celebrate, I think in times like these we should celebrate every chance we get! I am not really into math, but I think I might celebrate this year anyway by eating my favorite kind of pie, chocolate! You can find an easy recipe here on the Pioneer Woman website!
Please share with us on our Facebook page how you plan to celebrate this unusual day!
