As you may know, today is Pi Day.
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159.
Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.
But not just any Pi Day--it's
Super Pi Day. While usually observed at 1:59, today Pi Day could be celebrated at 9:26:53, getting us up to 10 digits of pi:
3.141592653. Yeah, it's a big deal for nerds everywhere. This will likely be the only Super Pi Day any of us will ever experience, as this symbolic day only arrives once every century. At least, under American date-writing conventions.
How to celebrate such a momentous day? Well, you could always have pi(e). Not being a mathlete (but being a lover of stuffing my face), this always seemed to be the most appropriate method of celebration. I've tried to make a true Pi Day pie, but sadly, it never comes out as good as this...
Or, if you're really hardcore, you could memorize and recite as many digits of pi as possible. Like this sixth-grader, who recited 2,422 digits:
I'm up to 10 digits. I'm getting there.
The official world record, if you were wondering, belongs to Chao Lu of China, who recited 67,890 digits in 2005. However, Akira Haraguchi of Japan holds the real record after reciting 100,000 digits at a public event in Tokyo. He's still working at it, and he's up to 117,000 digits. He takes his pi memorization very seriously:
To me, reciting pi’s digits has the same meaning as chanting the Buddhist mantra and meditating. I’m actually trying to do more these days, making it a daily goal to recite more than 25,000 digits, which takes me about three hours.
According to Zen Buddhism teachings, everything that exists in this world - the mountains, the rivers and all the living creatures - carries the spirit of the Buddha.
I’ve interpreted this to mean that everything that circles around carries the spirit of the Buddha. I think pi is the ultimate example of that.
I suspect most of us aren't that intense about pi. How are you celebrating Super Pi Day?
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