One of those interesting irrational numbers that we bump against early in grade school is the number Pi. Pi as a number has a profound effect on our lives from the simple wheel, cylinder, and sphere to basic trigonometry to engineering differential equations that solve stress/strain models. As a kid, I once had a contest with a friend to see how many digits of Pi we could memorize--I can still recite them: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693393. It's sick, I know, but I beat my pal who didn't get past the 17th digit. These are nerd bragging rights at their best.
Today is Pi day and you should take a gander at the history and phun facts on this spectacular number. Hoist a glass (cylinder) of bubbly (spheres) and toast (fluid dynamics) to our friend Pi.
Today is Pi-Day 2008. A day in honor of Pi, one of the oldest and most mysterious mathematical constants known to man. A day in celebration of the works of dozens of great mathematicians and scholars. A day to revel in the glory and power of Pi. For those of you that live in the USA and use the MM/DD date representation format, the reason should be clear enough: March 14th, 2008 == 3.14...
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