What is Pi Day and why is it celebrated?
(CNN) — If you’re using Pie Day as an excuse to eat pie, there’s a lot to know about pie.
Here you can find out why we care about pi and its day of celebration, which is March 14.
What is pie?
Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, or roughly 3.14.
What is Pi Day?
Pi Day falls on March 14, as the date is written as 3/14 in the United States. If you’re a math geek, celebrate the day at exactly 1:59 am or pm so you can reach the first six digits of pi, 3.14159.
March 14 is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.
History of Pi Day?
Physicist Larry Shaw started Pi Day in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium to celebrate numbers and mathematics in general.
In 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing Pi Day.
Who invented pi?
The mathematical concept of pi has existed for thousands of years, but it was only in the 18th century that it began to be known as a Greek letter. Philologist William Jones began using the symbol in 1706, but it was popularized by mathematician Leonhard Euler.
Why is pie important?
Unless you’re a mathematician or scientist, you probably don’t encounter pi very often. But calculations in mathematics, engineering, construction, physics, and space exploration require pi.
Does Pi ever expire?
Like our love of pi, pi is infinite. Its exact value can never be calculated and does not appear to have a pattern.
Here’s pi to the 10,000 digit if you want to recite it.
Who holds the record for reciting Pi?
Rajveer Meena holds the record for reciting the highest decimal place pi. In 2015, Meena recited 70,000 tithes blindfolded. It took about 10 hours.
For more information about pi, visit www.piday.org.