March 14 is National Pi Day

Pi — the ratio of circumference to the diameter of a circle — has captivated imaginations for thousands of years. Pi is generally rounded to 3.14 though it was calculated out to 2.7 trillion places in December by French computer scientist Fabrice Bellard.

Mathematicians know that pi is not algebraic, and it cannot be represented as one number divided by another. Theoretically, its digits will continue on randomly and indefinitely without ending in repetition.  It’s so random, that there are no occurrences of the sequence ‘123456′ in the first million digits of pi.

Well, the mysterious number has its own holiday today: March 14 (3/14, get the pun?) the same date as Albert Einstein’s birthday. It was only last March that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution supporting Pi Day and encouraging schools to teach students about the magical number.

An article at CNN.com pays homage to Marc Umile, a math geek who holds 10th place in the world for pi memorization; in 2007, he typed out 15,314 digits from memory. (The world record for memorizaton was set by Chao Ly in 2005: he memorized 67,890 digits.) According to the article “any string of numbers you can imagine is somewhere in pi — for instance, look for your birthday. Coincidentally, ‘360,’ the number of degrees in a circle, occurs at digits 358 to 360.”

Dozens of memorization enthusiasts (like Umile, here at 1,000 digits)  have posted videos of themselves reciting or typing out digits on YouTube; there are also plenty of poems and songs online dedicated to pi. One of my favorites is the video below of Folk Singer Lucy Kaplansky singing her own ode to Pi. And don’t miss this parody of the hit song “American Pie“   written by CNN SciTech blogger, Elizabeth Landau.

I’m not so good with numbers, myself. Remembering birthdays and phone numbers has always been a challenge, so for me, pi is best expressed as simply 3.14. I’ll have to enjoy its enormous majesty through the others who are saluting it on this day!

You don’t have to memorize and recite enormous strings of random numbers to show you can be eco-minded!
You can help the environment by recycling your used printer cartridges and cell phones. Your inkjets, toners, and cell phones are worth more than you think!
Why not recycle them at eCycleGroup.com?

Tags: Just For Fun!, pi, Video