Pi Day falls this year on Saturday, March 14th. Here are some fun facts about Pi:
Why March 14th?
The first three digits in the number pi are 3.14 and tomorrow is March 14th (3/14). This year's Pi Day is a once in a century Pi Day as the first five digits in pi are 3.1415 (3/14/15).
What is pi?
Pi is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.
How do I calculate pi?
Take any circle and divide the circumference (distance around the circle) and divide it by the diameter (distance across the circle through the center). Try it with a garbage can, hula hoop, cereal bowl, etc.
What makes pi special?
- Pi is an irrational number meaning it never ends and it never repeats.
- The number pi is in every circle no matter how big or small.
- Computers around the world are currently working to find a pattern or end to pi. So far billions of digits have been calculated and the computers have found no pattern or end.
- The number pi is used in many geometric formulas including the area of a circle, the volume of a sphere and surface area of a cylinder.
An easy way to remember the first 9 digits of pi...?
Remember the following sentence and count the number of letters in each word:
"How I wish I could calculate pi."
3 . 1 4 1 5 9 2 ...