Happy Pi Day!
March 14 is Pi Day — that’s pi, not pie — and today, Google marks the 30th anniversary of the math-inspired holiday with a special Doodle.
Pi, denoted by the Greek letter “π”, has been part of human knowledge for millennia, but it wasn’t until 1988 that physicist Larry Shaw organized what is now recognized as the first “Pi Day” celebration at the San Francisco Exploratorium science museum. Shaw chose March 14, or 3.14 — the first three digits of pi — as the holiday. Shaw died last year, but his brainchild is still celebrated by lovers of mathematics around the world.
Pi represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s an important part of the foundation of mathematics, most importantly geometry, where it is key to equations calculating the area of a circle, A = πr2, and the volume of a cylinder, V = πr2h.
Pi, denoted by the Greek letter “π”, has been part of human knowledge for millennia, but it wasn’t until 1988 that physicist Larry Shaw organized what is now recognized as the first “Pi Day” celebration at the San Francisco Exploratorium science museum. Shaw chose March 14, or 3.14 — the first three digits of pi — as the holiday. Shaw died last year, but his brainchild is still celebrated by lovers of mathematics around the world.
Pi represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s an important part of the foundation of mathematics, most importantly geometry, where it is key to equations calculating the area of a circle, A = πr2, and the volume of a cylinder, V = πr2h.
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