Happy Pi Day!

Amen, and amen again! 

Today is 3.14 or Pi Day in the world of mathematics enthusiasts and nerds. 

What is pi? Glad you asked. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.

Borrowed from www.mathifun.com. It really is! 

Pi is irrational, meaning that when we express it as a decimal, the digits do not terminate, nor do they repeat. Did you know that the decimal representation has been extended to over 10 trillion decimal places? I didn't either. I just learned that on Wikipedia. 

Today is one of those days when I miss being a teacher. I know that if I were still working in schools, I'd be hosting a celebration and wearing one of my numerous Pi t-shirts. 

Pi Day, 2007 or 2008

My kids and I would be eating pie of some variety. Somebody's mom would bake something, and I'd probably make (or bring) a few myself.  And, of course, I'd sneak some mathematics in along the way. Here's a few pictures of my final Pi Day celebration that the other math teachers and I threw at my former school.  Each teacher had his or her students draw a digit of pi.  We all met at the football stadium and strung all of our digits together like so: 

We even got press coverage! The news sent a film crew in a helicopter to shoot footage of our celebration. 

So although I'm fighting a stomach bug and working on my dissertation, I'm thinking of all the teachers and kids celebrating Pi Day.  I'm celebrating in spirit. 

Until next time . . . I'll leave you with a corny cheer I used to teach my students.

Do you know the digits of Pi?

3-point-1-4-1-5-9

Did you get it? 

Well I guess. 

Mathematics is the BEST!!! 

(***cartwheels and toe touches***)