March 14 is an annual reminder of two important facts: Math is wonderful. So is pie.
Pi Day brings together math geeks and baking enthusiasts alike to celebrate the mathematical concept that pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Not only is this useful knowledge for cutting eight equally sized pieces from Grandma’s famous apple pie, it’s also helpful for knowing the volume of a cylinder — a handy trick to measure out just the right amount of milk to wash down that slice of mocha silk pie.
But beyond the uses for pi from high school geometry class, we celebrate pi day for its tantalizing proximity to infinity — pi goes on forever. There is no pattern to the repetition of its digits; in the order of a perfect circle, we find randomness.
Pi shows itself again and again as humanity seeks to understand the universe around us: you’ll find pi in calculations of waves (oceanic and electromagnetic alike), which in turn helps us explain atomic and subatomic particles. Pi is integral to programming (arguably pie is also integral to programming). Raspberry Pi has cheaply introduced affordable computer programming to children the world over.
And while in math circles the debate rages on about whether tau > pi (tau = 2π), for simplicity’s sake (not to mention dispensing with exercises in rote memorization), today we celebrate with appreciation for mathematics and dessert.
Join me for the math cheer, everybody!
(And don’t forget to eat twice as much pie on Tau Day, which falls on June 28.)
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
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