Pi Day 2014
MattRingh
Math
Pi is an extremely interesting number, and the day to celebrate it is March 14th. The continuing pop culture references to Pi are evidence of the love people have for Math, and Math’s most widely known constant. Author of the Life of Pi, Yann Martel, said this of his choice of the name “Pi” for the novel’s protagonist: “I chose the name Pi because it’s an irrational number… Yet scientists use this irrational number to come to a ‘rational’ understanding of the universe. To me, religion is a bit like that, ‘irrational’ yet with it we come together, we come to a sound understanding of the universe.”
Alex Bellos stated in Numberphile’s film “Pi History”, “Pi is the simplest possible ratio of the simplest possible shape.” Perhaps the simple nature of Pi is what makes it a sort of celebrity number, but the film unveils Pi’s “ugly” side as well.
Bellos’ film is a good place to start your celebration. Follow it up with this SMART Notebook file of investigations, re-creations, and problem sets: Day of Pi The video in this blog post is a guide to the file: Day of Pi Guide. For dessert, how about these resources posted by NCTM Illuminations on Pinterest?
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