Today the whole world congratulates Pi on the holiday. Without it, it is impossible to perform most of the technical calculations, so it somehow concerns each of us. The pi value is approximately 3.14159. Many interesting facts are associated with this number, which will be discussed later.
Interesting Facts About the Most Important Number in Mathematics
Let’s start with how the date of the celebration itself was chosen. So, what happens if you write March 14 in numbers, putting the month before the day, in the American way? That’s right, it will be 3.14, and these are the first, most important and recognizable digits of the number. Here are some interesting facts about him:
Pi is much older than each of us. It dates back to 1706, when the Greek symbol “π” was first used by William Jones. However, the symbol received its recognition only in 1737, when it was used by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler. However, some scientists are sure that the concept of the number Pi originated in antiquity, about 4 thousand years ago.
Google is always one step ahead. If you enter the word pi into a Google search box, the calculator will open and the number 3.14159265359 will automatically appear.
This is a sooooo long number. To accurately calculate the substances in our universe, you only need 39 decimal places. But the number Pi is infinitely longer. On Wikipedia, you can see the first 1000 decimal places.
Pi can even be listened to. Here’s how these numbers were laid out:
For a better exchange of information, a P-club was created. It is not easy to enter it, you need to have an outstanding memory and mathematical abilities.
Pi even refers to sports. In 2008, a pi-based sport was invented in South Africa. The game is similar to beach volleyball, but it is played in a circle and instead of being separated by a net, the players stand opposite each other on the court.
Deja vu. The first six digits of Pi, 314159, appear in this sequence at least six times among the first ten million decimal places of Pi.
Pi and his Star Trek. The exact value of Pi is unknown, because it is infinite. In one episode of the original Star Trek movie, Spock destroys a computer by asking him to show the last digit of Pi.
Pi even has its own monuments. One of them is on the steps in front of the Seattle Museum of Art.
Pi and world record. While most of us struggle to remember as many numbers as possible after 3.14, one person in Japan managed to memorize a staggering 111,700 numbers. True, in the Guinness book this was never recorded.
British mathematician William Shanks became famous for manually calculating pi to 607 digits back in the 19th century. However, later it turned out that the 527th number was wrong, and, therefore, all the numbers behind it as well.
What is customary to do on Pi Day
Traditionally, many educational institutions organize competitions in which you need to memorize as many digits of the pi number as possible. Of course, no one has yet managed to beat the Japanese with his 111.7 thousand digits, but it’s clearly worth a try. Also, students wear clothes with appropriate symbols.
With younger children, you can make garlands of paper of various colors. Each color will represent a specific number and the result will be a colorful ribbon that symbolizes this mathematical constant.
You can think of a lot of other exciting competitions that will be of interest to children. For example, you can bake a cake and try to write as many digits of a number on top as possible with cream.
Pi surrounds us everywhere, without it construction, scientific activity and almost any calculations are impossible. If now mankind suddenly “forgot” the number Pi and lost all sources of this knowledge, then we would go back far into the past. One should not think that this is “only 3.14”, this is the basis of the foundations, without which most aspects of our civilization become impossible.