pi day

3.1415926…
Sadly, that’s all the digits I can remember right off the top of my head.

Calling pi “irrational” is rather redundant, as is very clearly shown when looking at the first million digits of pi. And that’s just the first million. At first, this post was going to be a pity party for pi since it’s been so blatantly disrespected and dismissed as merely “irrational.” However, I already personified sleep to strange effect, perhaps revealing some deep seated issues in the gummy recesses of my mind, so who knows how unhinged I’d become in sympathizing with and trying to talk to an infinitely running number.

Therefore, this post is simply to celebrate and elucidate what March 14th is – the Day of Pi! If you’ve never heard of Pi Day and you ass-backwardly write your dates in Day/Month format, you might be wondering what the hell I’m talking about – does this have to do with celebrating being in a boat with a tiger? No, book nerd, this is Pi Day, a day for the math nerds. Here in ‘Murica, we write our dates in Month/Day format, so Pi Day is 3/14, as in 3.1415926… the mathematical constant denoted by the Greek letter “π.” The ultimate Pi Day (of the Gregorian calendar in Month/Day/Year format) would have been March 14th, 1592 (3/14/1592), but alas, I don’t think 16th century mathematicians aimed to glorify the number so much as to actually find out what the heck it was. These days, pi can be calculated to over 5 trillion digits.

And it’s not just an arbitrary day that a few wacky people celebrate (if math nerds know how to properly celebrate). It’s an official national day, too (kind of). National Pi Day was recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2009 in a non-binding resolution, where it’s not a lawfully recognized nationally observed day; it just means a bunch of politicians liked the idea (but they remembered how much they hated math in primary school, so they compromised by making it not official).

So what do people do on Pi Day? Give people pies with the pi symbol on it? Not really original, but hey, it’s pie. No complaints.

Well, according to Mental Floss, some people celebrate by eating pie or pizza, watching the movie Pi, playing ping pong [Aside: Really, guys? Really?], and “memorizing just enough digits of pi to outdo their calculator…” Wow. That’s just… wow. But on a more redeeming note for that linked article, Pi Day is also Albert Einstein’s birthday! I suppose you could say how amazing it is that the super mathematical genius’s birthday fell on the same day someone noticed that “3/14” kinda reminded them of “3.14.” But it’s not that amazing. It’s a lovely coincidence, though.

So screw Pi Day. Happy Birthday, Einstein. Happy Birthday, you frazzle-haired evil genius, you. Thanks for the theory on relativity (and it was about time, too). *badum tss*

What do you do for Pi Day? Are you a math nerd? How many digits of pi have you memorized? (No cheating because I can obviously tell if you cheat).