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Chris Higgins
Happy Pi Day!
by Chris Higgins - March 14, 2007 - 8:00 AM

PiSo it’s March 14 again, and that means it’s time to celebrate everyone’s favorite irrational real number, Pi. Pi Day (and its slightly nerdier twin, Pi Approximation Day) are unofficial holidays marking the calendar’s trip past 3.14. (Pi Approximation Day is held on various dates related to Pi, like the 314th day of the year).

On Pi Day, enthusiasts celebrate Pi by eating pie (or pizza), watching the movie Pi, playing ping-pong, or our favorite: memorizing just enough digits of Pi to outdo their calculator. (In my case, that would be 3.14159265358, which I memorized in ninth grade instead of paying attention in math class.)

If you’re in San Francisco, check out Pi Day festivities at the Exploratorium. There’s a shrine involved, and a rapping Einstein puppet.

…Which leads us to this last tidbit: Pi Day is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, which makes it extra-special for _flossers.

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Comments (7)

  1. I’m SO glad someone is finally recognizing this day for being BOTH Pi day AND Albert Einstein’s birthday!! It’s my birthday too, 100 years to the day from Einie (he’d be 128), and a lifetime of teasing by my sister for being an Einstein nerd is finally validated! Thank you, mental_floss.

    posted by Stephanie on 3-14-2007 at 10:09 am

  2. Dorrrrrk!

    posted by Ransom on 3-14-2007 at 10:11 am

  3. Not to niggle too much, but the final digit in your Pi approximation (3.14159265358) should be a “9″ rather than an “8″. Continuing it out further, you would have 3.1415926535897… By having an “8″ rather than a “9″ you are simply *truncating* after the 11th digit rather than rounding up, you naughty boy.

    posted by Jim on 3-14-2007 at 2:19 pm

  4. OMG, I have been using the wrong number for all these years. Dude. I stand corrected, sir!

    posted by Higgins on 3-14-2007 at 2:23 pm

  5. We had Pi day at school today! The Calculus teacher had all her students bring pie and she decorated the hall with Pi facts. Our math teacher gave us little debbie pies, and she had a shirt that said “Pi-ous.” Then we listened to a student tercite 200 digits of pie it was a nerdy day!

    posted by Rachel on 3-14-2007 at 6:26 pm

  6. happy birthday to me (101 years younger than Albert Einstein). We put my 27 candles on a blueberry pie.

    posted by aileen on 3-14-2007 at 10:58 pm

  7. We are planning our 4th Annual Pi Day Celebration at our Middle School. Prior to Pi Day, eighth grade students are asked to create “Pi art” and a “Pi writing” (this will be on display at our gathering), participate in a Pi Scavenger Hunt, learn about Pi, and learn a Pi Song to be sung with their class. On Pi Day, we gather in the cafeteria at 1:59 pm and we all shout “Happy Pi Day”. Class songs are sung, prizes are awarded to winners of the Pi Scavenger Hunt and the “Pi Digits Memorization Contest”…..and then, of course, we all EAT PIE (donated by our wonderful parents). Students are also encouraged to decorate t-shirts with “pi”. [This day comes right after our statewide Mastery Test week.....so it's really a celebration and enjoyed by all].

    posted by Marian Carson on 1-12-2008 at 6:33 pm

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