Pi day-14th March
Calculating the ratio of a circle’s circumference and diameter is one of the biggest challenges in the history of mathematics.
This value, symbolized by the Greek letter π (pie), has captivated mathematicians from the ancient civilization of Babylonia to the modern era of supercomputers, each generation striving to unravel the mysteries of this enigmatic number.
They have searched for exact fraction values, formulas, and, more recently, patterns in the long string of numbers starting with 3.14159, which is generally shortened to 3.14.
It’s an irrational number in Mathematics.
William L. Schaaf once stated, “No other symbol in Mathematics has generated such a curiosity, romanticism, misunderstanding and interest as π (Blatner,1).
We will probably never know who first discovered that the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is constant, nor will we know who first used π to represent this.
Origin of Pi-
The idea of π was initially used by the Babylonians and Egyptians, nearly 4000 years ago.
It is not clear how they got their value for π, but one source (Beckman) claims that they simply made a big circle, calculated its circumference and diameter with a rope.
They found the ratio to be slightly more than 3.
But today through modern day calculations we know that its value is 3.14159…….
If we use the American style of writing a date (month first, then the day) then today we’ll be celebrating π Day – when the date 3.14 matches the first few digits of π.
Pi Day, March 14TH, is celebrated as a fun day to discuss Mathematics and π. In America, a lot of pie is eaten on pi day. Many leading newspapers publish articles on this day to celebrate π day. At IB Elite Tutor, we are organizing a Mathematics quiz and a debate on pi day this year.
